Reading Change Through Flame
by Myra109
Summary: Shortly after Leo arrives at Camp Half Blood, they are all dragged to Olympus to read about his biggest secret: that he's a time traveler. Language, implied PTSD, reading Change Through the Flame by NBrokenShacklesN (should pry read that first; it's really good), K plus for now unless someone suggests for it to be changed
1. Strongest Spirit

_Before anyone asks, I DO have permission from NBrokenShacklesN to write this story! I want to thank her for letting me write it, and I highly recommend you read her story. It's one of my favorite fanfictions, actually!_

 ** _Warnings: I own none of the characters. Anything bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

 _WARNINGS: LANGUAGE_

* * *

It had been three days since Leo was claimed by Hephaestus, but he should have known that things would go wrong eventually. The day had been pretty decent; he'd gotten the speech and explanation of the tunnels and was planning to explore them. His sword fighting was improving in the eyes of the others at a fast rate, but not fast enough to look suspicious. And last but definitely not least, no one had discovered his fire powers in the week and a half he'd been here, other than Chiron.

Lunch time rolled around and just as Leo prepared to leave to finish his project in the forge, the entirety of the camp from the youngest camper to Chiron and Mr. D were swept away in a bright light.

THUMP! Over a hundred people and a handful of nymphs, satrys, dryads, and a centaur hit the floor painfully, the light dying rapidly. Groaning, Leo sat up and hastily stood to bow to the Council of the Gods that stood before him. As everyone was too busy trying to ease the pain from the fall, he was the only one that had stood up and he saw Hephaestus and Zues nod in approval.

Before he knew it, several other demigods were joining him in bowing and kneeling.

"What are you doing here?" Zues demanded.

Everyone shook their heads, symbolizing their lack of knowledge on that topic, when another bright flash of light interrupted the interrogation. A book lay in the center of the floor with a sticky note attached.

Zues removed the note and read the elegant hand writing scrawled across the paper.

' _Dear Everyone,_

 _Fate did not occur as I saw fit and I sent a time traveler to fix these horrid mistakes that have been made. Unfortunately, I can only do so if you read this book and the next, which I will send in time. Enjoy reading!_

 _-Chaos_

Havoc erupted, gods arguing, demigods screaming at the mere name, and others standing there looking rather confused.

"Hey!" Leo shouted. No one heard him.

"HEY!" He screamed louder. Still nothing.

"... EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" They heard him that time and everyone turned to him in shock, as Zues's face began to turn red with anger. "I'm sorry, Lord Zues, all of the gods, and my fellow campers, and mentor, but I had to get your attention somehow. If Chaos has gone out of his way to send us this book, it must be important. If we ignore a direct order from the creator of all things, who knows what will happen? Who would like to read first?"

"Since I already have the book, I suppose I will," Zues replied, silently admiring the demigod's bravery and how he took charge when there was chaos around him. He'd make a good soldier; just don't tell anybody he complimented a demigod, if only in his head.

He examined the cover. A body engulfed in flames that obscured his form except for a shadow and the barest traces of skin through the smoke. Around him were storm clouds and lightning striking random areas around the flames. At the top, the words, 'Change Through Flame,' had been written. The O in Through was made to appear as a clock and he turned the book over to read the summary to the gathered group.

' **When the world falls to Gaea, Leo Valdez is the only one left to save it** ,' he cut himself off at the mention of Hephaestus's problem kid.

"Leo?" Percy questioned.

Leo took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna tell you anything. It's all in the reading."

Zues took that as his cue and started skimming the page once more.

' **but how? Why by traveling back in time! This is Leo's story, how he rose from the ashes of a broken world, and risked everything to save it, of the joys, and the pain of being the savior, hidden in the shadows... Well as much as fire can hide...**

 **Prologue:**

 **Leo regained awareness in a dark place. This utterly suprised him as he was fairly certain he was dead-"**

"What?" Hephaestus demanded.

Leo waved his hand. "It'll explain everything, I promise."

' **in fact the last thing he remembered was an axe splitting his skull and a searing, though brief, jolt of pain.'**

Many people, including Hephaestus, his children, Percy, and several others that cared for Leo, shifted in their seats at that description.

' **He also knew that wherever he was, it wasn't the Underworld because he'd seen it destroyed with his own eyes.'**

"Excuse me?" Hades snapped. "What did you say about the Underworld being destroyed?"

Leo fidgeted uneasily in his seat. "That happens in the future. I was sent back in time to stop it, among other things."

The god of the Dead looked ready to say more, but he shut his mouth as Zues gestured madly to the book. Leo, meanwhile, looked down at the reminder of the loss of the souls of his friends.

' **This brought him back to where he could possibly be.**

 **"Leo Valdez, your fate was spun eons ago; I wrote it out myself. But fate as I wrote it was ignored."**

 **Ah, so someone was there, and if they were talking about fate as if they wrote it, they must be someone important, meaning Leo better bow or face unpleasant consequences. Leo had learned the hard way that not bowing to dietes ended you in hot water, a lot of hot water. Leo made to stand, in the process of realizing he had a body and by Hades, it hurt! Leo let out a pained groan, it felt like someone had taken every muscle in his body, stretched them twice as far as they could go, tied a few knots in them, and added knife slashes for good measure.'**

Percy gulped. "That sounds painful."

"It was," Leo confirmed, "but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the injuies I got during the war."

Nyssa rubbed Leo's back, drawing a strange look from her younger brother, and she sent him a look that clearly said, "I'll be grilling you later."

' **Leo promptly got reacquainted with the floor.'**

Several people sent Leo sympathetic glances, but he glared harshly; he didn't need pity.

'" **Um, I would bow your fate writingness, but my body has decided that the floor needs a long hug."'**

Snickers spread through the room at the joke.

' **Just as he had said this, a warm breeze enveloped him, relaxing his muscles, and healing his injuries, a breeze that emitted from the being before him.**

 **"Leo Valdez, you have been chosen to go back and fix the wars, many who should have lived did not, and many who should have died live still, the world as you knew it has now come to an end, and Gaia is fully awakened, she will continue to destroy all life, until she is the only being in the world. This was not my plan. Those who I had entrusted to uphold the fates I wrote have betrayed me, and they will be punished most severely. You however, Leo Valdez, have the courage and the ability to fix these problems. Will you?"**

 **"You're offering me a choice? No offence, sir, but that doesn't seem like the way most deities work."'**

"So true," Percy muttered. "I've only known that I'm a demigod for one summer and I know that."

Leo sniggered.

' **"I am not most deities." The voice boomed. "I am the oldest, the most powerful, I am Chaos itself. Do not presume to compare me to those whom I created demi-god."**

 **"Right, no comparing got ya." Hades, thought Leo, looking round at the whirlwind that had suddenly ripped through the stereotypical white throne room. If this is Chaos when he's irritated, I do not want to see him angry. Leo turned back to the glowing being in the throne; he still couldn't work out anything but a vague outline of a humanoid figure, the brightness that Chaos was emitting would have blinded him had he still been in a mortal body.**

 **"I am giving you a choice demigod, because it is my fault that you were in the situation that you were, because I was not watching as well as I should have been. It is the least I can do to try and give you this last choice. You can either do what I am asking of you and save the past that desperately needs saving, or you can leave the past and continue into oblivion."'**

"Well, that's easy!" Travis exclaimed.

Leo smiled sadly at him. "When you went through what I did, it isn't as easy a choice as you think."

Several people frowned at the sudden change in Leo. What had he gone through that he'd rather vanish into oblivion than time travel?

 **'"Wow, saving the world, or oblivion huh." Leo thought that this would be an easy choice, if he had been asked this a year earlier, it would have been easy, he would never have chosen oblivion then. But now after all the fighting he was so tired, so weary of war, that oblivion now had a new appeal. To not exist, no worries or problems, no fears; no friends, no love, no laughter. Leo shivered; maybe oblivion wasn't such a good choice. He was Leo freaking Valdez, he lived to laugh, a place with no laughter, he was pretty sure he wouldn't like.**

 **He looked back at Chaos, who seemed to be emitting a sort of approval, and asked "Why me, why not Reyna-'**

"Who?"

"She'll probably come in later," Leo responded, twisting a wire in his hands.

 **'Conner..."**

Travis and several others froze in their seats.

No, they tried to convince themselves. It's another Conner. It's not Conner Stoll.

' **Why me?" This was a question that had been bothering him ever since Chaos had told him of the fate changing thing.**

 **"Because Leo Valdez" Chaos spoke in a softer tone "You managed to keep laughing the longest. You may not be the best fighter, or the greatest hero, but you have the strongest spirit, and that Leo is what I need."'**

Hesphestus grinned proudly. Leo most certainly did have a strong spirit and he prayed that no amount of pain would change that. It was hard to picture Leo Valdez, joker and class clown, broken.

' **Leo gave a confused laugh, strongest spirit, what the Hades, and then froze. He laughed, he had laughed!'**

Hesphestus's smile melted. Why had Leo been so suprised that he'd chuckled like that? Leo was always laughing.

"Since when do you not laugh, dude?" Percy snorted.

"Since she stole our hope," he whispered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

' **He hadn't laughed since the destruction of the underworld, since Gaia had taken Hopes vase, and smashed it into a million pieces.'**

Percy abruptly stopped snickering at the odd scenario of Leo Valdez not laughing. "I'm sorry, Leo."

"It's okay, you didn't know." And I would've like to keep it that way, Leo added in his mind.

' **Even that now seemed like a distant memory, like he had, since being with Chaos, forgotten. Leo started to panic, he didn't want to forget, forgetting would mean losing all that he had left of his friends. He didn't want to lose them; his memories of the good times were all that had been keeping him sane!'**

Hestia smiled, grimly. He may have lost them, but at least he cared for them deeply.

 **'"Calm child" the commanding voice broke through Leos' panic attack, and bought him back to reality. "I have not taken your memories away, merely dulled them, if you want to think on them you will be able to, I could not have you thinking on them always, should you choose to accept my offer, for you would be haunted by them all the time, and lose yourself in grief."**

 **Oh, well now Leo felt stupid, but he had been so worried that he would lose what little he had to remember his friends by, that he sort of lost it. He looked to Chaos. "Sir, I would like to accept your offer of changing fate sir, but I'm afraid that I don't really know how to do it, I doubt Kronos will stop by me flaming on in front of him."'**

There were a few laughs at the mental image until the sentence processed.

"Kronos?" Even Zues seemed afraid at the mention of his father's name.

Leo didn't say anything; he just bit his lip and fingered a beaded necklace (you'll figure out what it is and where he got it later)

 **'"You speak true Leo Valdez, but I will guide you. When you arrive back on earth, you will find yourself beginning at Yancy academy, the school that Percy Jackson attended the year before he discovered he was a demi-god. I will give you instructions on what to do, and when to do it, as well as providing you with anything I feel you need. Live well Leo Valdez, and save as many as possible."**

 **Then Leo was falling into darkness, and shrinking, and generally feeling a great deal of motion sickness, till he reached the bottom of what seemed like a dark tunnel, and blacked out.'**

"Well," Zues spoke after a long moment of silence, "Who would like to read next?"

"I will," Beckendorf offered and the Lord of the skies tossed him the novel.

Before he could begin, however, a bright light filled the throne room.

* * *

 _What is it? Find out next chapter!_


	2. Welcome to Yancy Acadamy

_Hello! Here's chapter 2._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

Four people, a blonde, a satyr, a boy with green eyes, and a Latino male, dropped to the floor.

The blonde was most likely twelve with curly hair and startling gray eyes. She wore an orange camp shirt with old, ripped jeans that had tears that looked scarily like claw marks. As the girl stumbled to her feet, she rushed to bow to the gods and goddesses before her.

The satyr had a brown curly mess on his head with dirt brown orbs and was wearing much the same attire as the girl, but with a Rasta cap on. He had a goatee and acne decorated his pale face as he pushed himself up to bow.

The twelve year old boy had wild raven locks with sea green eyes and wore the same outfit as his companions. He smelled of sea air and he bowed to the gods until he gasped and stumbled at the sight of the final child.

He looked like a Latin Santa's elf with pointed ears and elfish features. His brown curls were threaded with twigs and caked with mud and his chocolate eyes blinked at them in a daze. As soon as they cleared of the mist, he bowed deeply and looked at all of them in confusion like he was perplexed as to why they weren't zapping him. The other boy with the green eyes was much the same way.

"Um, Lord Zues," the girl said, wearily, taking a subtle step in front of her green eyed companion, "why have you brought us here?"

The king of the gods decided that it was best to read the note, whether than trying to explain everything themselves. After he had done so, he announced, "You are in July of 2010. When are you from and who are you?"

Zues knew who they were, but he wanted to hear it from them.

"We are from June of 2010," the blonde replied. "I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

The satyr picked up the chain of introductions. "I'm Grover Underwood, satyr."

The green eyed boy, who was still blinking rapidly at the Latino, said, "I'm Percy Jackson, son of the Poseidon."

The Latino waved awkwardly. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hesphestus."

"LEO!?" Annabeth and Grover gasped. "No way..."

"Do not kill Leo," Chiron commanded as he saw Annabeth reach for her dagger. "I'm sure it will all be explained in the books."

The futures quickly caught the pasts up on what they'd read so far, and the pasts, who spared more than one shocked glance at Leo, seated themselves.

Beckendorf continued to read.

' **Chapter one: Welcome to Yancy Academy**

 **Leo woke up to the sounds of footsteps. He slowly opened his eyes and caught sight of the room he was now in. After the completely foliage covered world of Gaia's victory, then the complete white of Chaos's throne room, the sea blue was a nice change. Sea blue he thought, Percy.**

 **Surprisingly the thought of Percy Jackson did not make him feel as upset as he thought he would.'**

"Why would it?" Past Percy questioned.

Leo didn't reply.

' **He had been preparing for an onslaught of negative emotions, all the grief at Percy's death, all the guilt, the if only that had been torturing him since.'**

"Dude," Future Percy whispered, "you don't need to blame yourself. After all, you didn't kill me yourself, did you?"

Leo shook his head. "Percy, my goal is to make sure that you never have to learn this, but when people die right in front of you, it's kind of hard not to blame yourself for not saving them."

The son of Poseidon didn't know what to say to that.

' **The emotions that got worse with the demise of each of his remaining friends, till he was almost drowning in the sorrow. The emotions seemed strangely faint, like the memories had happened years ago, or to someone else. Leo took a moment to thank Chaos for his foresight in dimming the emotions, but then, he was the oldest and probably wisest deity.'**

"Excuse me?!" Athena snapped.

"I'm sorry, Lady Athena," Leo apologized, but didn't say that he was wrong.

' **Don't tell Athena he said that.'**

Said goddess humphed.

' **The door to the room Leo was in began opening, the footsteps entering the room, and a boy of about twelve entered. He had black hair, and sea green eyes. If you gave him a skateboard and stuck him in the middle of a skate park, then he'd fit right in. He didn't look much like the Percy Jackson who Leo had first met, the Percy who stood on the deck of the ship, in ripped and burned praetors robe-'**

The gods flinched as splitting migraines hit them all at once at the mention of anything remotely Roman.

The demigods looked confused, but both Leos just looked on sympathetically.

'- **and yet looked as if he belonged on it more than Leo did. Leo who had built the Argo two. This Percy was not like that Percy, this Percy looked less strong, scrawny, so much more childlike than the sixteen year old Leo had known. Though Leo saw this as a good thing, if he could see that Percy and this Percy as too different people, then he wouldn't be tempted to judge this Percy on how the Percy that Leo knew had acted.**

 **"Hey, are you OK, only you've been staring at me a while, it's kind of freaky."**

 **Darn it, he had been caught, way to make a good first impression Leo he thought, but out loud he said, "Nah man, I wasn't staring, I was merely deciding if you were awesome enough to join team Leo. Seeing as you're my roommate, it would make things pretty awkward if you weren't. But don't worry; you're worthy to be in my presence". Leo stood up, and promptly crashed to the floor, unused to being in a twelve year olds body again.'**

Several campers and some immature gods (cough-Apollo and Hermes- cough) giggled.

' **He heard snickers from the other boys who were now standing by the door, and a sympathetic groan from Percy. Seemed like Leo wasn't the only one who was good at mucking up first impressions. Still, it wasn't a defeat if you got back up, Leo leapt back to his feet with a flare and a signature Leo grin, which made all the lady swoon (in his mind anyway) and gave an awkward bow in the direction of Percy, and the boys at the door. "Leo Valdez, trouble maker extraordinaire and ladies man, at your service".**

 **The boys at the door made variations of snorts and sniggers, as they made their way inside, sending him odd looks. Well thought Leo, that could have gone better, but as no one had decided to try and punch him yet, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. "Ah, well that went well" Leo muttered. Unaware that Percy could still hear him.**

 **"Don't worry about it mate." Leo turned to see a sympathetic Percy with his hands in his pockets. "Wasn't as bad as my introduction, the head made me stand on the stage at the front of the assembly hall and I managed to fall face first off said stage."'**

Both Percys blushed as laughter spread through the room.

'" **Ouch", Leo winced "bad luck man. But you'd think with the amount of schools I've been to that I'd have nailed the introduction thing by now."**

 **"Maybe... Just out of interest, how many schools have you been to?"**

 **"Wanting to compare? Well, if you're counting the one that expelled me the first day...This is my fourteenth school." Well thought Leo, technically some of those schools were in the future, that now was not going to happen, but he had been to them, and he could remember them, so he guessed that they still counted.'**

The ravenette that just opened his mouth quickly shut it, finding that he agreed with his friend. Future or no, school sucked either way.

' **He glanced at Percy, who looked shocked by the number.**

 **"And I thought a school a year was bad. Wow you've beaten my record." Percy whistled, then did a double take, and turned to Leo, disbelief etched on his face. "Did you say you were expelled of the first day? What did you do?"**

 **"Um, I accidentally blew up the science lab, literally blew up, from what I read in the paper, it took them three months to rebuild. I tried telling them I didn't do it on purpose, but as the teacher hated me, and vice versa, they seemed to think that I meant to do it." Man Leo thought, that teacher had been a real medusa (apart from the snake hair, and petrifying eyes thing) and since it was before he attended the wilderness school... He wouldn't have been surprised if she actually had been a monster. It would explain why she had hated him.'**

Hesphestus and his children all looked a little worried about the theory.

' **"...Done?"**

 **Leo turned back to Percy. "Sorry man, missed that, was it of vital importance?"**

 **"I asked if that was the worse you had ever done?"**

 **Leo scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, taking note of the fact that her really needed to get his tool belt from bunker 9 as soon as possible, he felt odd without it on. Like part of him was missing. "Um, that depends man, if you're meaning the shortest I have ever gone before I was expelled the yeah, but I've also managed to blow up a cafeteria, burn down a gym, set a teachers car on fire: it was a accident, and I've.. Well yeah. I think the entire education system has been warned about me by now. As soon as I turn sixteen I'm leaving school for good. Getting a job at a blacksmiths or a garage or something." Or stay at camp and do jobs for my dad, he added in his head.'**

Hesphestus smiled at the thought of having his son assist him in the forge.

'" **You really like blowing things up, don't you?" Percy now looked amused again, though there was a bemusement in his eyes that told Leo he was more confused than he was letting on. "The worst I've ever blown up was the school bus with a war cannon."**

 **Leo grinned his somewhat manic grin "the school bus, like you were on a school trip or something? Dude, how did you all get home?"**

 **"They had to phone our parents, and get them to come and pick us up from the battlefield. Those people who didn't have anyone to come pick them up had to catch a lift with someone else". Percy grinned back at Leo. "After that, for some reason, that school decided that they had had enough, and politely told Mum to arrange for me to go to a new school the semester after."**

 **"They didn't want you back? I can't imagine why, after that stunt the bus driver must have loved you!"**

 **"Not quite, the whole of the staffroom wanted my blood by the time I left. There were bets about who would snap first; them from my attitude, or me from the constant detentions and lack of free time."**

 **Leo laughed at that, this Percy was downright hilarious; he had to stick around as long as Percy was here, for comedy, if not for anything else. "Percy my man, I get the feeling that were gonna be the best of friends."'**

"More like brothers actually!" Percy laughed, giving Leo a noogie.

"Percy, not the hair, man, not the hair," Leo cried, dramatically.

Beckendorf smiled at his little brother's antics, mussed up the boy's hair (ignoring the glare), and held up the book. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," future Annabeth answered, taking the book from her fellow demigod. "Chapter two: In which school sucks, but Leo gets Compensation..."

* * *

 _I know there wasn't much commentary in this chapter, but that's only because the chapter wasn't very long. I swear, there is more commentary to come._


	3. School Sucks

_Here's chapter number 3!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

* * *

Annabeth began to read.

' **Chapter two: In Which School Sucks, But Leo Gets Compensation.**

 **Leo was bored. He hadn't been this bored in about two years; it was rather hard to be bored when you were fighting for your life almost every day-'**

"Very true, man, very true," Conner Stoll agreed and several others nodded.

 **'-heck every minute of every day come the last months of the war. Now however he was in that monotonous boredom that only school could supply. He had thought that he would be able to last at least an hour before he cracked. But he was not even half an hour into his first lesson, and he was ready to set the place on fire. He didn't see why the titans or Gaea tried to fight the demigods, when just sticking them in a school for a while would have them begging to be killed.'**

Some of the gods, including Ares, Zues, and Hera, smiled wickedly whilst the demigods gulped.

' **He glanced back at the clock, he would survive the lesson! He had been on the freaking battlefield for Hephaestus's sake there was no way that he was going to let a little thing like a math lesson bother him. He continued to stare at the clock while the teacher jabbered uselessly in the background. Really, who was actually listening? His glaring at the time piece stopped when something blocked his view.**

 **"Mr Valdez, is there any particular reason you are staring as the clock, and not listening to my explanation of angles?"'**

"Busted," the campers, at least the immature ones, chorused.

' **"I was trying to figure out the exact angle between the minute and the second-hand, but the second-hand keeps moving. So it's kinda hard." Yes! That was an awesome save, Leo thought, there is no way he could be told off for that.**

 **"While I appreciate your quick thinking Valdez, I would rather it were applied to the lesson and not to try and get out of trouble. Perhaps you could tell the class about the angle on the board?"**

 **"Or perhaps not" mumbled Leo. He then looked at the board, and ignoring the sympathetic look that Percy was sending him, assessed the angle there. It didn't seem that hard, so he began to stand up, with a signature Valdez mischievous grin on his face. The teacher had said to tell the class about it, not explain what amount of degrees it was.**

 **"OK class, the angle you can see on the board is a cheese sliced shape angle, typically called an acute angle by those who actually give a damn about math. You will only ever see this particular angle given by teachers to try and confuse you, therefore its probably a decimal answer, like 32.46 degrees. This angle can provide entertainment though, if you know what to do with it, you could join the lines up to make a triangle, and doodle in the shape; or you can imagine that someone you hate is in the corner, and imagine the angle getting smaller and smaller. Another interesting thing to note about this angle is..."'**

By the end of that, the demigods, the Sun god, and Hermes were rolling on the floor laughing. A few gods and goddess turned their noses up, but a few of them (including Aphrodite, Hesphestus, Hestia, and a few others), along with Chiron, were smiling in amusement.

' **Leo's monologue was interrupted by the teacher's voice. "That is quite enough Valdez, and how you managed to guess the right answer I'll never know."'**

Hesphestus's grinned. "My children are gifted in math, science, and problem solving. You may not even be trying and the answer will come to you because most engineers have a talent in mathematics."

' **Leo's comeback dissolved in his mouth. That had been the right answer? Sweet! "Sit down Valdez, and let me get on with the lesson". And with that statement Leo immediately fell back into daydream mode.**

 **He had been quite worried when, after asking Percy where Grover was, he had received a blank look, and a deadpanned, "who's Grover", that was until he realised that Grover hadn't started at Yancy Academy till partway through the year, and that Percy didn't know him yet. He tried to laugh it off, with a "hey, just messing with you man." Though he wasn't sure that Percy bought it. He dreaded what would happen the day that Grover and Chiron turned up, which would probably be soon, considering that there were now two demigods at Yancy, not just one. Those set him off on whether he would go with Percy on the quest; or pretend not to be a demigod (that would be kind of hard with Grover's nose though).**

 **Before he knew it the bell had rung again, and he was being dragged out the room by Percy, and on to their English class.**

 **Six hours later, Leo was back in the dorm room, looking through the wardrobe next to his bed. He hadn't realised before that Chaos had filled it for him. Not that he wasn't grateful for it; being stuck with just one set of clothes would really have sucked. He turned to the bedside table, and opened the first draw. There was a letter inside, written in curvy writing that just reminded him of the font setting Edwardian script on word. The letter said...**

 **Leo Valdez**

 **I am grateful that you were wise enough to make friends with Perseus Jackson, which will be useful to you in the future. You must do without your tool belt for a year, till you can go to Camp half blood. This year you must not go there! Wait till Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood and Perseus Jackson have left camp, and then follow them. You must not reveal yourself till the Lotus Casino.**

 **I have left gifts for you in the other draws of the bedside table. I hope you like them. I also took the liberty of removing your dyslexia.**

 **Chaos.**

 **He didn't have dyslexia anymore! That was awesome, and he had been given gifts! Chaos had just risen to the top of his favourite deity list. Well, behind his dad, family loyalty and all that.'**

Hesphestus once again smiled.

' **He opened the next draw down, and saw a wallet with the initials L.V. in orange thread on the side. He reached into the draw and withdrew it. When he opened it up there were 20 fifty dollar notes inside. He took them out and it refilled instantly. He did it again, and a note appeared.**

 **Though you may be curious Valdez, I will warn you that mistreatment of this gift will result in the wallet no longer being able to refill.**

 **Chaos**

 **Ah, well Leo supposed, it was a good point, and people would get suspicious if he had a ton of money, and nowhere to get it from. He slipped the wallet back into the draw, before reconsidering and hiding it under his pillow. Though most of the other kids at Yancy were rich, he would not put it past some of them to look through his stuff, and make off with his wallet.**

 **Leo gave the next draw a look, anymore awesomeness and he would start to grin like a maniac, ah, what the Hades, he was a maniac. He reached for the next draw. He opened it a saw an orange A6 notebook. Well that was anticlimactic ran through his head, before he picked it up and flipped to the first page. Another note. Chaos sure liked leaving notes everywhere.**

 **Leo Valdez**

 **This notebook is to communicate with me. Everything you write in it will be sent to a notebook that I have, as an alternative to praying to me. Since the Gods can monitor prayer, you praying to a being that had supposedly faded will raise a few eyebrows, especially if I reply.**

 **Don't worry about losing the notebook, it will return to your pocket, as will the wallet. I decided that since that worked well with riptide, I would do it to all the things I gave you.**

 **Now check the bottom draw :)**

 **Chaos**

 **Wow, Chaos put simile faces on his notebook, that was awesome, as was the idea of the notebook, but the simile faces thing was better. Who would have thought that the powerful, serious being would use simile faces.'**

Many were snickering at that point.

' **Leo peered into the mirror on the other side of the dorm, yep, manic grin was present. Well since he already had the manic grin on, he might as well look in the last draw. As it opened Leo could tell that it was much fuller than the other two draws, it seemed to have a load of folders in. If Chaos had set him homework he would not be a happy camper. Leo opened the first folder, and the manic grin doubled in size. Not homework, defiantly not homework. In the folders were all the designs and blueprints that he had thought out through the war, and hadn't had time to write. Leo was so ecstatic his hair started smoking.'**

"What?" Some campers gasped, but Leo urged Annabeth to keep reading before anyone could ask.

' **There was no way that he was going to not make them this time around.**

 **He looked at the back of the folder, and there was a sketch that he hadn't drawn. Not a sketch, a map. A map of bunker 9, and directions to... a storage facility. Why the Hades was Chaos showing him a storage facility? He looked closer at the map, and noticed the lists of metal in storage. Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Stygian Iron, and Chaotic Silver. What in Hephaestus's name was Chaotic Silver?**

 **He looked at the writing below the text. An unbreakable metal, highly resistant to heat, and could only be molded in the heart of a flame, by a fire user. Only he could use it, and if it was unbreakable, then he could make weapons for all his friends. No one would be caught unaware this time, Katoptris wouldn't break on Piper-'**

The goddess of Beauty straightened. Sure, it could be any girl names Piper, but it didn't stop her from being concerned.

' **and Clarisse's spear wouldn't shatter!'**

The daughter of Ares and her father froze. Many campers stared at Clarrise with fear and pity as the gods gazed at Ares, awaiting a reaction. But the said god just stared at his lap, turning his knife over in his fingers, and swearing revenge on whoever had killed his daughter, even if it hasn't happened and was never going to happen.

' **This was great. Leo's hair had caught on fire-'**

"You're a fire user?!" Beckendorf exclaimed.

"Erm... yeah."

"That's awesome!" Shane yelled, bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement. "Can I see?" He asked, hanging off of Leo's arm.

"Okay, little buddy, but back up," Leo laughed and once Shane was at a safe distance, tendrils of fire danced between his fingers and across his palm.

"Wow... Leo, why didn't you tell us?" Jake said, amazed.

Leo smiled sadly. "You'll find out later."

'- **and he didn't care, the possibilities were endless... At least he didn't care till he heard a gasp from behind him, and felt his body be doused by water.'**

"I'm just glad it was Percy and no one else chose to walk in at that moment. Boy, that would have been hard to explain," Leo chuckled.

"Who wants to read next?" Annabeth asked.

"I will," Grover said, taking the book. "Chapter four: In which an explanation occurs and a goat arrives... well, that's awkward."

* * *

 _What'd you think? Review!_


	4. Pranks and Grover Underwood

_Hello!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Chapter three: In which an explanation occurs and a goat arrives... well, that's awkward." Blushing at the snickers at the irony, Grover continued reading.

' **Leo slowly turned around, his manic smile dropping off his face; his thought process was something like. .. Schist! Schist! Schist! Schist! Great way to go Leo, it's the end of the first day, and already someone had seen his hair on fire. It wasn't like he could manipulate the mist either, he hadn't really ever learned how to do that, convincing people was Pipers forte, his was creating, fixing and things. Leo reckoned her was the poster boy for Murphy's law, no amount of Valdez charm was going to get him out of this one.**

 **He had finally finished the slow motion turn, and came face to face with a equally flabbergasted Percy Jackson. Who in a typical Percy way, decided to state the obvious...**

 **"Um Leo, your hair was on fire."'**

Future Annabeth shook her head. "Seaweed Brain."

'" **Yeah, thanks for the shower man."**

 **Percy looked towards his hands, "you're welcome, except I have no idea how I did it." He looked at Leo, "That was your cue to run away screaming about how much of a freak I am."**

Poseidon stared at his son in sympathy. Apparently, he wouldn't fit in the mortal or the demigod world, being a child of the Big Three.

Hestia frowned; no one should have to feel that way.

' **Percy looked so dejected that Leo felt a flash of pity for him. In his bemoaning of someone discovering his fire powers, he had completely forgotten how it must be like for Percy. In Leo first round at the horror game called school, he hadn't used his fire powers at all, because he had been wary of them. He had blamed them for the death of his mom.'**

"What do your powers have to do with your mom?" Chris asked, tentatively.

"Leo," Hesphestus said, shakily, "you realize that that was not your fault, right?"

"Of course." But the densest person alive could tell that he was lying.

' **Even before he came back in time, he hadn't thought how bad it must be for Percy, whose powers were that of the sea. The sea doesn't like to be constrained. That must be why Percy had been so eager to be friends, Leo thought, his stomach sinking, because all the friends he had before had abandoned him when they discovered his water abilities.'**

Several stared at Percy in sympathy, but he glared at them.

"I'm sorry I kind of dissected your life, man," Future Leo muttered to Percy. "I didn't expect anyone to be reading my thoughts."

Percy smiled. "It's cool, bro. Besides, you hit the bulls eye when it came to analyzing me."

Leo chuckled softly. "Well, I knew past and future you, so I guess I know you better than you know yourself."

"That's creepy."

"I know."

'" **I can control fire Percy, I can't really call you a freak."**

 **The look on Percy's face was well worth the loss of his secret, it even made the Valdez grin reappear. "So next time Percy, I don't really need the shower, Fire doesn't burn me." Percy was still doing his goldfish impression, which Leo thought scarily accurate. Well both Percy and a goldfish were creatures of the sea he supposed, so there would be some resemblance.'**

"Hey!"

"It's true!"

'" **Hey Percy, if you don't close your mouth, something might fly in it. Trust me having a fly in your mouth is not fun." Leo thought back to the moment on the Argo 2 when a fly from the engine room had decided that his yawning mouth was a good place to stay...'**

If you haven't guessed, Grover had to stop reading momentarily as several people dissolved into fits of giggles.

' **Leo shuddered. "Don't ask."**

 **"So you can actually control fire?" Percy sounded a bit sceptical, "it didn't really seem like that when I walked in, unless you like flaming hair."**

 **"Percy my friend, you should never underestimate the attraction of flaming hair, the signature Valdez look. The ladies love it."**

 **Percy gave a mock look around the dorm room. "You mean the invisible ladies, 'cos I can't see them." This made Leo choke, Annabeth was the only girl he knew who could turn invisible, and she was most defiantly Percy's girl.'**

"What?!" The daughter of Athena and the said goddess cried. "What are you talking about?"

"The book will explain," Leo groaned, exasperated.

' **The fact that is was Percy saying she might be in the dorm room made Leo choke on air.**

 **"You Perce, have a lot to learn about girls, first point, is you never know where they could be hiding..." Leo directed Percy out of the dorm room, and down the corridor. "Especially fan girls, they're just creepy and stalkerish."**

 **"When have you had fan girls Valdez?"**

 **Three weeks later...**

 **Leo and Percy were sitting in the most boring assembly ever; the head teacher was at the front blabbering monotonously about targets and standards. Possibly the least motivational motivational speech that Leo had ever heard. Buford could do better than that, and he was a table.**

 **He took a copper wire out of his pocket, and started to mould it into different shapes. A tree, a cabin, then a table, and a ship. He sighed, though it was nice to have a bit of a rest from demigod life, it was getting boring and his ADHD was acting up. Yesterday he had come so close to setting Nancy Bobofit's bag on fire after she had had a go at Percy about being a 'dyslexic moron' the day before.'**

Poseidon growled and a slight tremor ran through the throne room. Many leaned away from the god of the seas and Percy looked suprised that his father got angry over one insult to his child.

' **Leo reckoned it was a rule that every school in America had to have at least one person who thought that they were the best, and everyone else was lucky to kiss the ground they walked on. At Yancy this person was Nancy Bobofit. A freckly girl who looked like a smaller (and less bloodthirsty) version of Clarisse.'**

"Don't you dare compare me to that damn brat!" Clarrise commanded.

"Sorry, Clarrise," Leo squeaked.

' **If anyone didn't do exactly as she said, she would try to humiliate them. She had tried it on Leo, but he being the awesomeness that he was, went completely unaffected. So she started on Percy.**

 **After the shower prank that Percy had pulled this morning though, he doubted she would bother him again. Since the day three weeks ago that Percy had discovered Leo's fire power, both he and Percy had been working on control. Yes, Leo knew that it would attract the attention of monsters, but hey, what was life without a little risk?**

 **This morning Percy had controlled the water in the pipes from the boys dorm's to make the shower in the girls dorm ice cold. Leo had bargained one of the origami ships he had made, for info on what time Nancy had her shower, from one of the girls in her room, and at exactly 7:21 Percy lowered the temperature right down. After she had come into the canteen in a really bad mood he and Percy had walked past, and innocently asked if she had a good shower this morning. There was no way it could be pinned on them though. They had witnesses confirming that they had been in bed at the time...'**

Once again, laughter boomed and echoed through the throne room.

' **Leo's attention was brought back to the front by a new voice, a voice he recognised from the past, er, future. Grover Underwood had arrived at Yancy.'**

"Whose reading next?"

"I will," Chiron volunteered, but before he could retrieve the book, a bright light flashed through the throne room.

* * *

 _Once the chapters start getting longer, there will be more commentary to come._


	5. Chiron and Alecto

_Hello! This was meant to be posted earlier, but I'm busy rewriting one of my old stories and I'm also working on a prompt given to me. Thanks for waiting!_

 _also, for those of you waiting on my other PJO syories, those will be updated in time. I'm focusing all of my energy on my prompt and on rewriting my other story (Saving My Brother), so I'm going to try to start updating them around September 11th (I should be done with Saving My Brother by then)._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nada._**

* * *

 **Past Leo, Annabeth, Percy, Chiron, and Grover- LT name (example: LT Leo)**

 **Futures- just names (example- Leo)**

* * *

A man in a wheelchair and tweed jacket appeared before them.

"What on earth..." He mumbled before bowing his head to the gods. "If I may ask, why have you brought me here, My ladies and Lords?"

Zues once again found himself filling a person in on what had occured with the Fates and in the reading.

"I see," LT Chiron murmured. "Well, please continue."

Future him picked up the novel and continued to read. "Chapter four: In which Leo recieves Lessons from a Fury and a Cenetar.

' **Leo turned his full attention to the stage, where a very awkward preteen, in crunches and a Rasta cap, was stuttering a hello. Leo cringed, way to make a bad introduction Grover; you just made yourself the target for every bully in the entire school. He heard sniggers from behind him, and gave a mental sigh, starting with the Cheeto faced, redheaded, kleptomaniac; who went by the name Nancy Bobofit.**

 **Leo frowned, Grover had been Percy's best friend the last time round, and he wasn't planning on messing that up, so he had to think up a way to get Percy and Grover acquainted, and maybe this time round Leo would get to know Grover better too. The times he had seen Grover before, he had been busy building the Argo two, or fighting for his life, so they never really had a chance to bond.'**

Both Grover's looked suprised that Leo wanted to get to know them and still make him and Percy friends when he could have easily pushed the satyr to the side. Both Leos smiled slightly, but they didn't tell Grover that they knew what it was like to be the odd one out.

' **He was slightly worried about why Grover had arrived so early though. When Percy had told the seven how he had discovered he was a demigod he made it out like Grover hadn't arrived until about halfway through the year, not three weeks into the first term. Although that could be because Leo was there too. One demigod, even if it was a insanely powerful one, like Percy, still stunk less than an insanely powerful one, and a medium powerful one after all.'**

"Medium power?" Several burst out laughing at that, including Hephaestus.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Leo," Beckendorf choked out through his hysterical laughter, "you are the best builder at camp. You set a record for the time on the lava wall; have beat almost every camper in sword play; held your own against Clarrise and Percy, the best sword fighters at camp; and are the first fire user in centuries. I'd say you're almost as powerful, if not more so, than Percy."

 _(Percy is naturally powerful, but Leo is both naturally powerful and has more experience, so that's why I assumed he'd be more powerful at the moment)_

"It's true," Grover chuckled. "Actually, we didn't even know Percy was at Yancy until after I planned to go there. I went to go find you because of how powerful you are and I only knew Percy was there when I saw him in the hallways on my first day. That's when I tipped off Chiron."

By now, Leo was blushing as red as the flames lighting his hair, which he quickly patted out. "Okay, I get it. Can we keep reading?"

 **'So maybe Grover had picked up their scent sooner. He decided to not worry about it anymore; if it was a terribly big issue then he was sure that Chaos would tell him to fix it.**

 **He looked back to the front just in time to hear the monotonous headmaster, Mr Cliff, introduce two new members of staff. They each entered from different sides of the stage, one with familiar features, and in a wheelchair, and the other an old lady in a leather jacket who looked like she would enjoy riding a motorbike over everyone in the hall, including the teachers.**

 **Leo's spirits soared, Chiron was here, he bet that Chiron was a awesome teacher, one of those cool ones who let you play games in class. Those teachers, thought Leo with a sigh, were a dying breed.**

 **Leo looked over at Percy with a manic grin. "So, looks like things are going to get more exciting here bro, bet I'll get a detention off one of the new teacher faster than you can."**

 **"I don't know Leo; the old lady looks like she'd give someone a detention for breathing. And I feel like my mom would probably not like me betting on how soon I can get a detention."**

 **"Perhaps... So hey, what about the new kid, Grover..." Leo trailed off at the look Percy was giving him. "What bro, did someone draw on my face, or something?"**

 **Percy continued to give him the weirded out look, "When you first met me, you asked me how Grover was doing, now a kid called Grover turns up, how the hell did you know?"**

 **Schist, Leo knew that would come back to bite him. He was mentally screaming think up an excuse! It didn't seem to work, he just sat there with his mouth open, and a guilty look on his face. Then a sudden thought struck him. Cliché he knew but... "I got a weird dream of you and a kid called Grover, it was really weird, but I get those sort of dreams sometimes, I guess when I saw you in real life I assumed that the Grover guy would be with you."**

 **Percy gave him an assessing look, that Leo had seen more often of a certain daughter of Athena's face. "You get weird dreams?"**

 **Leo cringed, he knew it had been cliché, but he thought it might of worked, he opened his mouth to laugh it off when Percy said, "I get weird dreams too, I thought I was the only one. I mean I saw you in my dreams before I met you too. Maybe it's linked to the powers thing."**

 **"Yeah man, maybe..."**

 **Leo and Percy made their way toward their next class in silence, Percy was still mulling over the dream thing, but Leo was more worried about taking a class that was taught by a fury. He had always said that maths teachers were evil monsters, but this was the first time that it was actually true. He was willing to bet that Mrs Dodds would hate Percy and him more than everyone else. Monsters hated demigods on principle.**

 **As they made their way into the classroom, Leo noticed that Mrs Dodds was standing unmoving at the front. He could honestly say, he had never seen a scarier old lady, and that was a lot from someone who had seen the fates. Leo and Percy made their way toward the seats at the back, before Mrs Dodds let out a cough. "Sit in alphabetical order, A's at the front. There will be no talking or messing around in my lessons, when you have finished a task, then you will put your pen down, and not fiddle with anything. When you are asked a question you will respond with respect, and a joke is never funny unless I am laughing. Failure to correspond with the rules of the classroom will result in a detention and being sent out."**

 **Leo groaned, time for two hours of hell.**

 **Two hours later, Percy had two detentions, and Leo had five. He wouldn't have gotten so many if he had kept quiet, but seeing Mrs Dodds picking on Percy had got him mad. The first time he called her out on it she had ignored him. The second time she looked at him, and seemed to recognise him as a son of Hephaestus. Consequently, she now hated him more than Percy.**

 **As Leo walked through the doors to the canteen, he saw Nancy and her equally repulsive friends gathered in a circle around Grover. He went to head over, but was stopped by Percy, "Leo, where you going?"'**

"Thanks," Grover told Leo.

"Don't mention it, man."

 **'Leo gestured to the huddle of people around the corner table, and watched Percy face harden. "He's not been here a day, and she's already started on him" he growled, "cus that's fair." He made his way toward the table, Leo right behind him and tapped Nancy on the shoulder.**

 **She turned around, showering him with blobs of spit, "What do you want Jackson, Valdez?"**

 **Leo thought for a second, "For you to get mysteriously ill, and have to leave Yancy, but unfortunately, we don't always get what we want."**

 **Percy response was much more polite. "For you to leave the new kid alone, and go pick on someone your own size." Then he made a point of looking at her, and added "although the last bit might be pretty hard. Ok then, thought Leo, not so polite, but points for the implied insult. But then the queen of kleptomaniacs continued.**

 **"And why should I do anything you say Jackson?"**

 **"Oh no reason, except... Well I hear the showers can get pretty cold in the mornings..."**

 **"Fine Jackson, but I warn you, you've got it coming. You too Valdez."**

 **Oh, I'm shaking, thought Leo, sarcastically. This mortal had nothing on Clarisse, now she was someone to be scared of.'**

Said girl smiled smugly.

' **Leo and Percy moved round the table and took a seat next to Grover, "You alright?" Asked Percy, "sorry about her," he jerked his head in the direction Nancy had gone, "we're not all like that."**

 **"Only about half of us" Leo supplied. Percy sent him a look that said, not helping, seemed that even before he met Annabeth he knew how to act like her. His statement however made Grover laugh. He looked down at his ruined meal, and sighed, "She ruined my enchiladas!" Leo burst out laughing at that, and soon the three of them were laughing their heads off.**

 **The next subject Leo shared with both Grover and Percy. It was Latin. Leo didn't really understand why Chiron was teaching Latin when Greeks like him and Percy weren't supposed to know about the Roman-"**

"What?" Annabeth interrupted.

The gods were groaned and holding their heads.

"It'll explain everything later on, Annabeth,"Leo assured her before gesturing for Chiron to continue reading.

 **'-but it was better than math, so he wasn't that bothered. As they entered the classroom, Chiron was wheeling around handing out sheets, by the time the whole class had entered and picked their seats, he was done and back at the front.**

 **"Folks, I have given all of you a quick quiz to do, just to test your knowledge of Roman history, I know young people such as yourselves dislike tests, so I have made it multiple choice, to help you along. Please write your name in the top corner and start."**

 **Leo looked down at the sheet in his hand. Question 1:**

 **Which of these is the name of the roman lord of the skies?**

 **A) Zeus**

 **B) Jupiter**

 **C) Neptune**

 **D) Mars**

 **Leo scrolled down the sheet...**

 **What is the name of the roman goddess of luck?**

 **A) Nike**

 **B) Fortuna**

 **C) Athena**

 **D) Lucky**

 **What is the Roman name for Kronos?**

 **A) Hyperion**

 **B) Saturn**

 **C) Pluto**

 **D) Venus**

 **Leo couldn't believe it. Twelve questions, and the answer to every one was B, he looked to the front, where Chiron was looking around with a small smile on his face. Leo's respect for the old centaur skyrocketed. He quickly highlighted all the B's then passed on a note to Percy that said...**

 **All the answers are B, I love this teacher!"**

 **Percy looked up at him and grinned, mouthed thanks, and altered one answer on his sheet, Leo turned back around, and found Chiron in front of his desk, looking at him disappointedly.'**

"Busted."

"Shut up."

' **"Passing notes? Not a very good start Mr Valdez."**

 **Leo winced and looked down, he hated disappointing Chiron, "Sorry Chiron" he mumbled, and then noticed the form in the wheelchair freeze, he reviewed his sentence, and froze himself, schist!**

 **"Please remain after class Mr Valdez."**

"You just gave yourself away, dude!" Conner and Travis groaned.

Smiling with amusement, Chiron raised the book and said, "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," LT Chiron offered. "Thank you."

"Chapter six: in which Leo is not held at arrow point."

* * *

 _How was the second chapter? Good? Bad? Great? Or meh (word teenagers use for okay in my school)?_

 _REVIEW!_


	6. Oaths and Trust

_I've returned from the treacherous, horrendous, back breaking journey of... nothing, really. I just like being dramatic._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

* * *

"Chapter five: In which Leo is not held at arrow point," LT Chiron read.

"Well, that's good," Travis said, cheerfully.

"Yes," Connor said in a good impression of Chiron. "Not being held at arrow point is a very good thing."

"That's demigod 101," Travis continued.

 **"Leo was cursing himself for the rest of the lesson, why the Hades did he slip like that. He knew that Chaos had chosen the wrong person.'**

"Geesh, Leo, it was one slip," Percy said. "You managed to keep us alive during the entire lightning thief quest. I'd call that pretty good."

Leo smiled. "Thanks, Perce."

" **If Reyna had come back instead, there was no way she would have slipped, and Conner would know how to talk himself out of this situation.'**

"Hey, Leo?" Travis suddenly gulped. "Is, um, that Connor... Connor Stoll?" He stammered.

Leo nodded, staring at the councilor of the Hermes cabin with an unreadable expression.

Travis looked away. He'd have preferred if Conner died early on in the war than see the horrors to the very end. And worse... they never mentioned him. Was he not there to protect his little brother? How had Conner reacted to his death?

His younger sibling rubbed his hand up and down Travis's back, soothingly, frowning at the slight shaking of his big brother.

' **Leo however was totally done for.**

 **He wondered what Chiron would say, whether he should start brainstorming excuses, in the future Chiron had always been able to tell when he was lying, but that Chiron had known him well. This Chiron had known him for less than a day, so perhaps he could think up something. The dream approach had worked on Percy, maybe it would work on Chiron too... So he'd say he had been having weird dreams of a guy called Chiron in a wheelchair, and why was he going by the name Mr Brunner, and... Oh who was Leo kidding? He was so dead that he should probably start preparing his speech to the judges.**

 **Finally there was only five minutes left of the lesson, and Chiron told everyone to pass their quiz to someone else to mark. Leo's went to Percy, Percy's to Grover, and Grover's to Leo. Leo looked in surprise at Grover's sheet, he had expected Grover to get full marks, he had obviously known all the answers, but he had made three mistakes. Leo supposed that it was because he wanted to keep his cover, and not seem like a know it all, but why did he pick the most obvious ones to get wrong?'**

Both Grover's blushed.

"Sorry, Grover, but it's true. It's always better to blend in with the crowd by getting the hard ones wrong than vice versa and being labeled as a know it all," Leo advised.

"And you shouldn't try so hard. When you try too hard, you freak and nothing works out the way you want it too. I speak from personal experience," LT Leo added.

' **Who would know that Athena lost her status as a war goddess when the Romans changed her into Minerva; but not know that Zeus's roman name was Jupiter. Really? Grover was trying too hard to be undercover. Leo glanced down the sheet, and wrote 9/12 at the bottom, followed by the statement, pretty bad for a satyr, and then rubbed the last bit out, no point digging himself in deeper. Ah what the Hades, he was screwed anyway, might as well have fun...**

 **The look on Grover's face when he handed back the sheet was priceless. He looked just like a deer caught in the headlights of a monster truck, but the fear when he looked at Leo made Leo frown. He hadn't meant to make the satyr scared of him, but Grover looked downright terrified. Leo gave another groan; he seemed to be doing things he didn't mean to do a lot lately. He bet Grover thought he was some sort of monster.'**

"Well, I knew you weren't a monster, but that didn't stop me from questioning your loyalties," Grover corrected.

"I really can't blame you. I was acting pretty suspicious," Leo admitted.

' **Chiron asked Leo to collect the sheets in, so he stood up, and made his way around the class. Nancy and her friends at the back were grumbling about how hard the test was, and when he collected their sheets in, he couldn't help but feel slightly bad for them. Not one of them had gotten above four marks, where he and Percy had got full marks. When he reached Grover, the poor satyr lent slightly away from him. He didn't think anyone but he noticed though. Until he looked to the front and saw Chiron's narrowed eyes on him. Great, another reason for Chiron to shoot first and ask questions later. His chances of death were steadily rising.**

 **He wondered if Chiron had seen the note, if he had, he would probably disqualify Leo and Percy for cheating. But he had said, passing notes, not cheating, when he had scolded him, so he probably hadn't seen the contents of the note. Leo did feel slightly bad, he shouldn't have told Percy the answers, but he bet that Percy would have won anyway, he did have 11 out of 12, before Leo sent him the note.**

 **Leo made his way to the desk, and handed the sheets over to Chiron, whose eyebrows rose when he noticed Percy's score, and then his eyes narrowed when he saw the comment at the bottom of Grover's sheet, which was quite clearly in Leo's handwriting. His eyes flickered up to met Leo's, and the warmth that Leo had always seen in Chiron's eyes was missing. The ever present smile gone. Instead there was a cool look that said plainly to Leo. If you don't have a good explanation, then you'll be in Hades's realm before lunch. Leo gulped.**

 **Five minutes later, the bell that signalled the end of the lesson went. Percy lent over Leo's seat, and said "I'll wait outside for you." Leo gulped again, that was a bad idea. He didn't want Percy seeing his possible death.**

 **Leo tried to discourage him, "Nah man, I'm good, you have to go with Grover, or Nancy will start picking on him again." Leo ignored the incredulous look from Grover at this, he supposed that if Grover thought he was a monster, then the satyr would be at his apparent care. Leo understood that, no monster (except Tyson) would help a satyr.'**

"Tyson?" Percy asked.

 **"You'll be meeting him next summer," Leo replied.**

 **'"We can both wait." Percy added. 'You won't be long."**

 **"Then you'll be late for your next class, and you know how much Mr Angle hates late students." Mr Angle was what Leo called the teacher who had picked on him in his first ever lesson at Yancy, it wasn't his real name, but as no-one ever remembered what that was, Leo felt he was being more respectful than the rest of the school, who just called him, that math guy. "And plus, I don't want you getting yelled at."**

 **Percy gave him a long look, and conceded. "Fine, but only because I don't want Grover to be yelled at his first day." It didn't really surprise Leo that Percy was protective, he always was protective in Leo's future/past, it did surprise him though that he started even before he knew about the Gods. Leo sent a grin Percy's way, as he and Grover left the classroom. Then, with his apprehensive feeling growing, Leo turned to the front.**

 **Chiron was still in his wheelchair. Leo found that rather insulting, what, he wasn't important enough to even get killed with Chiron in centaur form? Not that he would let himself get killed; he'd burn the arrow, and probably make a run for it. But it was the principle of the thing. He sat there, waiting for Chiron to draw an arrow. It didn't happen.'**

"Leo, I would not kill you before I heard you out," Chiron explained before continuing.

' **"Um, sir, not that I'm complaining or anything, but why aren't you trying to kill me?"**

 **"Should I be, Mr Valdez?"**

 **Ok, this was not what Leo was expecting. He was waiting for an arrow in the face, not a friendly chat. Or a not so friendly chat, but a chat all the same. He thought of how to respond, but before he could come up with an answer Chiron was speaking again.**

 **"I take, from your silence, that you're not sure whether you are a threat or not."**

 **Well, thought Leo, two can play at this confusing game, "It depends, sir, on whom you are counting me a threat to. If you mean Olympus, then I am most certainly not a threat."**

 **Leo saw Chiron relax slightly. "And what of Perseus Jackson? Are you a threat to him?"**

 **Leo grinned, "Only in challenging his title of most difficult student. Percy's my friend, I'm not gonna hurt him." Leo paused, "You might want to reassure Grover though, since the comment I wrote on his sheet, he seems to think I'm the worst monster that Tartarus could ever spawn."**

 **"Grover is not as cowardly as he may appear Mr Valdez.'**

 **"I didn't think that," Leo pointed out to Chiron. "I was just stating the obvious."**

 **'But I must ask you how you know my true identity, for I am certain that you have never been to Camp Half-Blood. "**

 **Leo gave a mental laugh, true identity? Chiron was making himself sound like a super agent. "Um, do I have to answer that? Can't I just swear on the Styx that I mean no-one any harm but monsters, Titans and general evil people and let it go at that?" Leo risked a glance at Chiron, he could use the dream thing again, but he'd already used that on Percy, and even though Leo was highly thankful that Chaos had already sent Percy a dream about him; it would seem slightly strange if that was Leo's answer to everything.**

 **Leo took another look at Chiron, who still wasn't speaking, and decided to go for it. "Well, you'll think I'm mad, but... I kind of saw you in a dream."**

 **Chiron looked accepting, but then asked, "And how did you know what Grover and Percy are, did you see them in a dream as well?"**

 **"Yep, I dream a lot."**

 **"I do not quite believe you Mr Valdez, but I will accept that you have a valid reason to withhold information, and if you do make the oath on the Styx, then I will accept you mean no-one harm, and will not bring this matter up again."**

 **Leo let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding as Chiron accepted his excuse, well besides the requesting of the oath on the Styx. Normally Leo would think more before suggesting that, but he had the feeling that doing so had resulting in Chiron trusting him more, a trust he has no intention of losing.'**

Chiron frowned; he hadn't realized how much the child looked up to him. He wondered how much he'd meant to Leo in the future for him to think like this.

' **"I, Leo Valdez, swear on the river Styx that I mean no harm to Olympus, or any of its loyal demigods, and have no murderous intentions toward anyone at Yancy academy, other than the so called Mrs Dodds."**

 **And as the thunder rumbled in the sky sealing the oath, Chiron finally smiled at Leo Valdez.'**

"Who would like to read next?"

"I will." Percy took the book and opened it.

"Since when does Seaweed Brain read?"

"It's in Ancient Greek, so shush."

"Chapter seven: In which Leo DID NOT steal steal a lightning Bolt, but gets crushed by a wall anyway."

* * *

 _Well, that's that. REVIEW!_


	7. Getting Crushed By A Wall

_Chapter 7 has arrived!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Chapter 6: In which Leo DID NOT steal a lightning Bolt, but gets crushed by a wall anyways."

Everyone visibly paled at the name of the chapter.

What?! Hephaestus thought. He didn't remember ever seeing this. Could this have been on one of the rare occasions he hadn't been watching?

"What? Why didn't you tell us?" Beckendorf snapped.

"Demigods nearly die all the time. I'm here, so I didn't see any reason for it," Leo answered. "I mean, in the future, before I came to camp, one of my friends blew up a volcano, survived, and crashed his own funeral. My story was nothing compared to that!"

"Who did that?" Percy looked stunned.

Leo stared at him. "After blowing a hole in the St. Louis arch, surviving Hades's realm, and battling Ares, you're asking me who blew up Mt. St. Helens and crashed his own funeral?"

"Oh."

Several exploded with laughter at Percy's crimson face.

' **Time skip to winter solstice.'**

"Where it all started to go wrong," LT Leo muttered and future him nodded in agreement.

' **Leo was lying awake, he had this weird feeling that something was about to happen. He had had it all day, but had tried to laugh it off; it couldn't be anything super important. That was until he had seen the calendar on the way to bed. Tomorrow was the winter solstice, and the day everything kicked off. Tomorrow was the day that Zeus's bolt and Hades's helm would go missing.'**

"Your helm went missing? I don't remember that," Hestia murmured, softly.

"That's because I didn't tell, my sister," Hades said, a slight smile on his lips. It was hard not to smile at Hestia. Even Hades felt compelled to do so.

' **Or rather, would be stolen by Luke.'**

Hermes frowned at the reminder of his son's betrayal.

"Wait!" LT Annabeth almost screamed. "Luke stole the bolt?"

Leo nodded grimly and Percy continued to read before anyone could ask questions.

' **He had asked Chaos if it wouldn't be simpler to just kill Luke and stop the war before it happened, and had been given a long lecture about how fate must come to pass, and how if the Titans didn't rise now, they'd just rise later on, when the gods were unprepared... ect ect. Suffice to say it was a bad idea. So according to Chaos, for the Titan war, Leo was just damage control, it wasn't until the Giant war he would really start to change things.**

 **Leo took another glance at the calendar; he didn't have anything to worry about, at least nothing that warranted lack of sleep. However if he couldn't sleep, he might as well do something productive...**

 **Prank! Leo leapt out of bed, and after removing a box from his bedside table, made his way slowly to the bathroom, thanking Hephaestus that his balance had improved since he had arrived in the past; being shrunk upset your balance completely. When he reached the bathroom, he opened the box, and selected a dye. Boy's bathroom... Bright pink dye! He smeared some of the thick dye inside the taps, and smirked, every time water came out, it would be pink. He then made his way to the showers, and did the same on every other shower.**

 **On his way back to the dorm, he saw the corridor leading to the girl's bathroom, why leave them out of the fun? Ten minutes later, the girl's taps and showers were sea blue. He stood in the corridor and looked up and down, aware that there would be a patrolling teacher soon. A light came round the corner, and he darted into the girl's toilets of the year above. A brainwave struck Leo, he still had dye... Why shouldn't he make it a whole school prank?'**

Hermes and his kids were smirking.

"Don't even think about it," Athena and her daughter, Annabeth, commanded of the god and his offspring.

' **At five am Leo was back in his bed, rubbing his hands and chuckling quietly to himself. He couldn't wait to see people's faces... Especially the staff, he hadn't spared their showers either. It was hard getting to them though, considering each sleep in staff member had an ensuite. It had been easy to disconnect the cameras in the corridors, too easy for a son of Leo's dad. Leo fell asleep with a smirk on his face.**

 **And was woken up by a yell. As Leo opened his tired eyes, he saw a pink haired kid come running into the dorm. "Someone's turned the water pink!" Leo snickered, ah, what a perfect start to the solstice...**

 **Within ten minutes the entire school was in uproar. The headmaster, Mr Leadon, called an assembly, and made the unaffected people sit on one side, and those who had taken a shower this morning on the other side. Leo and Grover had been unaffected, and were sitting next to each other, watching pink-haired Percy join the rainbow on the other side of the hall. Grover and Leo had become pretty good friends after Leo had talked with Chiron, and he knew that Leo was a demigod.**

 **Leo had decided to stick close to Grover today, even after his oath on the Styx, he didn't think that Chiron trusted him, and he defiantly didn't want to be a suspect for the missing bolt. He didn't have 'killed by the gods' very high on his list of spectacular ways to die. Nor did he want it joining 'killed by Cyclops axe' on ways he had died. He knew that Grover would defend him to Chiron, Percy would as well, but as Percy was also a suspect, his defence wouldn't help Leo much.**

 **The head teacher, who no-one could take seriously with his bright green hair, was walking up and down the stage ranting about responsibility, and 'being brave enough to step forward and accept the consequences of your actions'. Leo wasn't really listening, until the head began to say that all sports events and interschool activities would be postponed until the culprit came forward.**

 **Well, that was just not cool. It had only been a little prank... Maybe a big prank, an entire school prank, but it didn't hurt anyone; there was no point in cancelling things. It wasn't like Leo had killed anyone. But then again, if he were standing at the front of the assembly, even with Chiron not here, surely a member of staff would tell him about the prank Leo had pulled, which would further clear his name.**

 **Leo stood up amongst the mutters and groans, and called out to the front, "You know, it's really not fair to punish the entire school for my one little prank." The whispers stopped, and then started again, louder. "You should probably not cancel the sports stuff now, it's not like I'm on any of the teams."'**

Everyone was laughing by the line break and they couldn't seem to stop. What? It was a great prank!

' **Eleven hours later, Leo was sitting eating tea with Percy and Grover. Everyone had tried washing the dye out of their hair, but Percy was the only one it had worked for, which he found highly amusing. Leo had a month's worth of detentions, which he found completely unfair, all he had done was changed a load of people's hair colour, that didn't warrant a month's detention, surely.**

 **Suddenly a loud burst of thunder made everyone jump, and a number of drinks fall to the floor, and a storm suddenly started outside, with lightning aiming toward the school, the sudden wind caused the glass windows to blow in, and shattered glass fly over the tables by the windows. Then there was a mild tremor in the ground, a mini earthquake around the school that sent more jugs of water plunging to the floor.**

 **The teacher all stood up, and began ushering the students into the gym, as it didn't have any windows, as the storm continued to rage outside, and the shards of glass were picked up by the winds, and flew right to Leo's table; in fact, Leo noticed, and the three of them rushed out the door, they all struck exactly where Percy had been sitting...'**

No one missed the glare the sea god sent his brother.

' **Leo was thinking that perhaps Zeus had just discovered the lack of his master bolt. It was just the sort of thing he would do, upon realising that the bolt was missing, immediately blame the brother who has annoyed you recently, and attack his son. Leo had seen the way the glass had tried to attack Percy, how the worst thundering, and harsh winds seemed to be just behind the wall that the three of them were leaning against.**

 **Grover didn't seem to have missed the glass incident either, if the amount of worry in the looks he was sending Percy was any indication. The satyr looked absolutely terrified. By the look on Percy's face, Grover's glances were starting to make him uncomfortable. Ok brainstorm, thought Leo; that was a weird expression to be using now, when there was an actual storm outside... Sometimes Leo hated ADHD, sure it kept him alive, but it was so irritating while it did so. Back to thinking up ways to stop Percy feeling freaked out by Grover, that wouldn't work well in their friendship, and since when had he been a peacekeeper? Got it!**

 **"Hey G-man, stop freaking out, me and Percy are fine, the storm ain't going to kill us." Well thought Leo, with an ear out for the wind outside, it ain't trying to kill me. Percy... Not so lucky. Grover gave a little nod, but still looked at Percy like the ceiling was about to fall on him, Schist! Leo hadn't thought of that.**

 **Leo whispered in Percy's ear, "My old friend, Ryan, had a fear like that; he watched too many shows where people were electrocuted and killed by lightning, every time there was a storm he thought it would happen to him. Or one of his friends." So what if Ryan was completely made up, it proved a point, and Percy wasn't looking freaked out at Grover anymore, so that was a plus.**

 **There was a sudden groaning from above them, and a bit of dust fell from the roof, looked like Grover's fear might be happening after all. Great! Then the doors at the other end of the gym opened and Chiron came through, in his wheelchair, and Mr Brunner disguise. Grover went straight over to talk to him, and he saw Chiron sending suspicious looks in his direction. He sighed; it seemed that Chiron still didn't trust him.**

 **Leo heard the wind swell alarmingly, and heard Chaos in his head, "look out!" He just had time to push Percy away, before the wall collapsed on him; and the world turned dark.'**

That's when the uproar began.

"What?!" Hephaestus yelped. "Zeus!"

"He wasn't supposed to push the boy out of the way!"

"So that my son would die in his stead!"

"Why didn't you tell us any of this?"

"Chiron, how could you still not trust him after he nearly died to protect me?"

"I don't know, Percy, but I wish I had."

"Leo, why the fuck didn't you tell me that you nearly died?!"

"Well, one, I didn't, and two, watch your language! Sensitive ears at two o'clock!"

"I've heard worse. I'm eight, not two!"

"SHUT UP!" It was LT Leo and future Leo shouting together to interrupt the yelling match that the mortals could surely hear thousands of feet below. "... Thank you."

"Leo."

"Yes, Lord Poseidon?" The boys spoke in absolute unison.

"Thank you for saving my son."

"It was my pleasure to save my best friend," Future Leo laughed, punching Percy lightly in the shoulder.

"Thanks, Leo."

"I'll read next," Hesphestus spoke shakily as he retrieved the book, color just beginning to come back to his unnaturally pale face. As he opened the book, though, he stifled a laugh.

"Chapter eight: In which Leo Flames On."

* * *

 _How was it? Also, one of my reviewers pointed out my spelling mistakes (I spelled Zeus as Zues). I'll make sure to write it the correct way from now on. Thank you to the reviewer, Syndirr, for pointing that out._

 _Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited, or simply read the story._


	8. Flaming On!

_Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been working on a lot of other prompts that I've been given, on top of trying (key word trying) to update my own stories._

 _This story will be 30 chapters long, and 29 of them have been written, but editing always seems to take years! Anyway, I will try to post at least one chapter a day. There will be a sequel, but it will be updated slower._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

* * *

"Chapter 7: In which Leo Flames On

' **Leo could hear a massive fuss going on; of course the fuss happened to be outside the little dome of brick he was now encased in.'**

Several sighed in relief.

' **He lifted one of his fingers to his face, and set it on fire. At least he had light now. He was inside a massive pile of brick and slate, the remains of what used to be the roof and wall. There was a dome of air around him though, a force field that had prevented him being crushed by the falling bricks, it was probably courtesy of Chaos.**

 **He reached for his pocket, and the notebook he had slipped in there earlier that day, then realised if he kept reaching with that hand, he would be setting the notebook of fire. Not a good idea. He paused to switch the flame from his hand to his hair, then flipped open the thankfully non-charred notebook, and retrieved the stub of a pencil from his other pocket to write Thanks for that sir... I didn't fancy being made a Leo splat. The reply came fairly swiftly. Try not to make a habit of collapsing walls. It was a rather blunt reply, but Leo figured Chaos was probably busy, being ultimately powerful or something. He looked upward, and spoke, "No promises, but I'll try."**

 **Leo then took another look at his surroundings, judging by the fact he could only make out murmurs of noise, it seemed like his right royal air headedness had collapsed the entire wall on him. Zeus really needed to learn how to control his temper. The storm was dying down now; Leo presumed that Zeus thought that Leo was Percy, and that he had managed to squish the son of Poseidon.'**

"At first yes," Zeus mused, "until your father had a panic attack because his communication with you was going strangely. That's when i realized that you were the son of Hesphestus and not the son of Poseidon. Stupid, noble godlings," he muttered.

' **Leo wasn't going to point out he was wrong on both counts. The earthquake hadn't eased; in fact it was getting worse. It seemed that Poseidon also thought the demigod buried by the wall was his son, and was super worried.'**

"I also thought it was Percy," Poseidon admitted. "Until I realized you had pushed him out of the way. Thank you for that." It seemed the sea god could not be any more grateful to the child of the forge. He made a mental note that he owed the fire user; he'd protected Percy, so Poseidon would repay him by protecting him in a time of need.

"No problem."

' **But if he didn't stop the earthquake, the rest of the gym would fall down and his son really would be squished. Leo remembered that he had pushed Percy away from the falling wall, but didn't know if he had made it far enough to be out of the rubble completely.**

 **Leo put his ear to the side of the dome, and tried to hear what was happening. All he could make out was "Leo", and if that wasn't Percy he was a satyr. Percy was alive then, which was good. The earthquake began to stop too, and Leo was rather grateful for that, it might have caused his dome to fall in, which would not be fun for him. It also seemed that his was the only name being shouted. He was glad at that; it would suck to have a mortal stuck in the bricks too.**

 **Leo debated the best way to get out. He could wait to be rescued, or he could flame on, and get himself out. Probably better to wait. If Chiron still didn't trust him, it wasn't the best idea to let him know Leo had more hidden abilities. Leo was sitting crossed legged, but his legs were completely numb, which made him wonder how long he had been out for. If Percy was still there looking for him... Well Leo thought, no matter how far I travel back in time, Percy is still loyal to the point of idiocy, (and a bit beyond that is some cases). Now that he thought about it, shouldn't the firemen or an ambulance be there by now?**

 **He heard sirens blaring outside his little pile of brick. Speak of the devil... Or the firemen in this case, but oh well. He figured that he would be out of here soon.**

 **Leo was getting bored. He had regained consciousness about half an hour ago, and still hadn't been found. He had gotten tired of mentally breaking up and reassembling various electronic devices, and he didn't have anything in his pockets that he could really fiddle with.**

 **Leo had had enough now. So what if it would get Chiron even more suspicious. The entirety of his body was practically numb now, and he had had enough! The flames in his hair got higher and hotter, till they began to singe the bricks above him. The dome quivered. Leo's hands caught alight, then his arms. Pretty soon his entire body was engulfed in flames, flames with a temperature well over the point that could turn bricks to ash. The dome collapsed.**

 **Leo wasn't hurt. Sure it was slightly awkward to have the bricks all collapse on him, but they were burnt to ash before it could really hurt him. He slowed down when he could hear the sounds of the firemen, and the irritated voice of Percy asking them why they weren't trying to find Leo. When Leo's flames finally flickered out there were only two layers of bricks left. Leo paused to make sure he was all out, before pushing the last bricks aside and looking out into the darkness.**

 **There was the fire engine, with the firemen crowded around it, talking to a very distressed headmaster, who was standing next to a very worried Percy. Not that he looked that worried, in fact he was scowling at the firemen. But Leo had known him before he'd meet him. Even in Leo's head, that statement sounded strange. But from Leo's past/future he knew that Percy only scowled for that long when he was worried. Even when he was completely mad at someone he didn't scowl continually. Normally he just sent them his deluxe 'I'll kill you later stare'. Seeing Percy worried about him made Leo feel strange. Normally that look was reserved for Annabeth, or Nico.**

"Nico?" Percy asked.

"Once again, you will find out later," Leo said with a side glance at Hades, who looked a little worried. Maybe because the Nico had caused worry in the son of Poseidon.

' **It was plain odd to have it directed at him, although in a weird way, it made him feel wanted.'**

"Ow!" Leo cried as he pressed his fingers to the spot where Percy had thumped him, simultaneously rubbing the various parts of his body that had been punched by other campers. "What was that for?"

But when he looked Percy directly in the eye, he was shocked to see tears. "Of course I was worried! You're like my brother! What would i do without you, Leo?"

"... I'm sorry."

"You'd better be." And then, Leo was swept into then biggest group hug known to man kind as nearly every camper joined in.

"Um, guys, this is nice and all but I kind of have to breathe," Leo choked out. They dispersed from the embrace and took their seats with Percy and his siblings keeping a sharp eye on him.

' **Leo figured if he walked over to them, everyone would ask him a million questions as to how on earth he got out, so he pulled some of the bricks over his legs, and then covered himself in them up to his shoulders. If he was going to do this, he might as well go all the way. He opened his mouth to shout over to Percy. Then had a massive coughing fit.**

 **That had the intended effect though. Mr Leadon looked over at him, and then directed the flashlight he had in Leo's direction. About freaking time!'**

Hephaestus let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and held up the book in an obvious gesture.

Connor raised his hand and omphed as Hephaestus tossed him the book with more force than intended.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Connor replied, rubbing his chest. "Chapter nine: In which Leo evaporates a fountain... but it was Nancy's fault!"

* * *

 _Connor's name is spelled with an or, not an er. If it's in the bolded section, I did not edit that since it belongs to NBrokenShacklesN. If it's not in the bolded area, though, that was my mistake._


	9. Families and Fountains

_Second chapter today! It's late and I'm bored, so I thought why not get some of these chapters posted and off of the Notes app I use for writing? On with the story!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Chapter 8: In which Leo evaporates a fountain... but it was Nancy's fault!" Connor read.

' **Time Skip- Mr Brunner's field trip.**

 **Leo was sitting in the front of the minibus, well not exactly the front. He, Percy and Grover were sitting in the row of three just behind the driver, where Mr Brunner and Mrs Dodds could 'keep their eyes on them'. Leo had always been prepared to have the fury hate him, and watch his every move, but having Chiron distrust him so much that he wouldn't let Leo out of his sight. That hurt.'**

Chiron looked so apologetic, Leo felt bad.

"I am very sorry, Leo."

"It's okay, Chiron, I promise."

' **Sure Leo was used to teachers, heck any adult, looking at him in suspicion, after the amount of schools he'd been expelled from, what sane teacher wouldn't keep a look out. But Chiron had always been different. In the past future, Chiron had always listened to Leo, always trusted him, even when what he was saying sounded insane. To have Chiron doubt his every word, even after he swore on the Styx... It freaking hurt.**

 **Leo looked out the window, and angrily swiped away a tear.'**

If you haven't figured it out, Chiron felt even worse at this point and Leo hid his face at the sympathetic looks with a weak glare. He was too embarrassed to really put any effort into it.

' **He wasn't going to cry. He was Leo Valdez, the boy who didn't care what people thought about him, unless that person happened to be a girl. He turned his gaze back to Percy, who was sitting next to him. He was looking out of the window as well, but he had a wistful look on his face.**

 **"Hey man, any reason you look like you want to jump out of the bus..." He looked behind him, at where Nancy and her friends were acting more idiotic than usual. "Well, beside the obvious."**

 **Percy looked at him, as if judging whether or not he thought Leo would laugh, then admitted "My mom lives not far from here, I miss her."**

 **Leo frowned, which he knew was an odd look on his face, as it was something he rarely did. "I know what you mean Perce, but hey, at least you get to see yours in the holidays. I'll never see mine again." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Percy freeze, then turn to look at him. Leo had never mentioned his family before, if the topic ever came up, he'd avoid it. But the look of longing on Percy's face had made Leo think. Why not admit it; he knew Percy could be trusted... "Five years ago, and I still miss her."'**

Hephaestus looked down at the mention of Esperanza. He loved all of his lovers and his children, but Esperanza and Leo had been something special.

' **He finally turned to look at Percy, who was looking at him sadly. "Your mom's dead?" Then he seemed to notice how blunt he sounded and winced. "I mean, I never knew my dad, but mom's always been there for me, I can't imagine life without her. I'm digging a hole aren't I?"**

 **Leo grinned, which seemed to relive Percy, "Keep digging mate, you're almost at Australia. "**

 **Percy almost fell out of his seat laughing. He finally sat up, with tears in his eyes, and looked at Leo's affronted face. "That was... The worst... Australian accent... I have ever heard."**

 **"It wasn't that bad..."**

 **Grover's voice sounded from the other side of Percy, a tinge of amusement also heard in his voice, "It really was that bad. Stick to being American Leo, It suits you more."**

 **Leo huffed as he fell back agaist his seat, and resumed staring out the window. Surely they were there by now...**

 **The group of them were on a field trip, led by Mr Brunner (Aka Chiron) to a museum, to look at old Greek and Roman stuff. Leo was no good in museums. He always ended up irreparably damaging something or other, generally the most expensive display in the entire museum. In fact though Leo, since the breakages had happened in the past future, yep, it was this museum. He would have to try and avoid that jar this time..."**

"You broke a priceless artifact!" Annabeth sounded scandalized.

Leo held his hands up. "I'm sorry. Brad pushed me; it was not my fault!"

She humphed and crossed her arms anyway.

' **"Everyone out, we've arrived."**

 **Mrs Dodds sent Chiron a look, then screeched "Stand in two orderly lines outside, and keep talking to a minimum while we pay for entry. If any of you break anything, you will have to pay for it! Are we clear?" There was a murmured accent from a few people. "I said. Are we clear?"**

 **"Yes Mrs Dodds" chanted the class. Then they all trouped outside.**

 **It took about half an hour for the class to start the tour, and Leo suspected it would have taken longer, but he had seen Chiron snap his fingers in front of the ticket lady's face, and after that they were in. Tut tut Chiron thought Leo, manipulating the mist to rip off innocent mortals, how dare you. Leo got a big grin on his face after that, no longer could Chiron tell him off for doing that. Not when he did it himself. His grin faded, that was if they ever got to the point where he could joke with Chiron again. Judging by the way things were, that wouldn't be happening any time soon.**

 **Leo got to a corner, where a jug stood. It was that jug, the evil jug of doom that jumped out at him, then shattered on the floor, and got Leo blamed for destruction of a priceless artefact. Well ok, maybe he ran into it slightly, but it was still the jug's fault. He edged round it, ignoring the odd looks he was getting from his classmates.**

 **After they had passed the evil jug, Percy stopped Leo and said "What was that about?"**

 **"That jug, is the most expensive in the entire museum, and knowing me, that would be the one I'd break."**

 **Percy gave a nod. "I have to admit Leo; Murphy's Law does seem to like you. And me too now I think about it."**

 **Their walk went relatively unhindered, through the Roman section, and onto the Greek. Leo ignored the tour guide, and looked around the large room, at all the pictures and statues of various gods. He didn't really understand why they had hardly any cloths on. Would it have killed the artists to add a little more? He didn't think the gods would mind. Leo saw a statue of Lord Poseidon. It looked nothing like the Percy friendly short wearing dad. More like a wrestler in a loincloth holding a giant fork. Had that artist never seen a trident or something?'**

Suprisingly, Poseidon laughed along with everyone else. "Very true," he agreed.

' **He looked round for his father, and saw him in a picture, standing by a smelting place. He looked a lot better in the picture than in reality. Sorry dad, thought Leo, but it's true. The group moved on from there till they came to a room that had a stele, a grave marker in it. It was for a girl about Leo's age. Judging by the designs, a demigod. He glanced over at Chiron, who was looking at the stele sadly. He had probably known the girl, before she died.**

 **Leo lent down and saw writing in ancient Greek, carved into the stone. Andria Smelting, it said. Daughter of Hephaestus.**

Hephaestus looked down, frowning deeply. Poor Andria, a sweet girl who had died a very tragic death.

' **Leo gulped, that made it all the more real. This girl had been his sister. Sure a sister who had probably died a thousand plus years ago, but still a child of Hephaestus, still a member of his family he would never met.**

 **Chiron's talk pasted in a blur for Leo, and the next thing he knew they were being headed outside by Mrs Dodds. Leo, Percy and Grover sat by the fountain, eating their lunch. Leo snorted as he watched Nancy try to pickpocket someone, only to be hit in the face by a handbag. He pointed it out to the others, and they watched as she tried again, and got the same results.**

 **"You'd think she'd stop trying." Grover said, as the same thing happened for a third time.**

 **"Nah Grover" added Percy. "She would actually have to have a brain to do that. But that's one thing she seems to be lacking."**

 **Unfortunately Nancy saw them laughing at her, made her way over, and dumped her half eaten lunch right in Grover's lap. Leo saw red. No- one picked on his friends like that and got away with it. He barely registered Nancy being dragged into the water fountain, and that the water had started to heat up. By the time Leo's anger was under control, Nancy was dripping wet, and the now dry stones at the bottom of the fountain were steaming slightly.**

 **Mrs Dodds came over. "Mr Jackson, Mr Valdez, come with me"**

 **"It was me, I pushed her."**

 **"I don't think so Mr Underwood." Then she grabbed Percy and Leo, and began dragging them toward the museum. But the thing that scared Leo the most wasn't her unnatural strength. But the light of harsh triumph in her eyes.'**

"HADES!"

"Yes, brother? Yes, nephew?"

"You sent a fury after our children?"

"Just your's, Poseidon, but keep in mind that I thought he had stolen my helm at the time."

"Okay," Leo laughed, shakily. "Before World War III breaks out, we should probably keep reading."

"Who reads next?"

"Me, please," Hestia said, smiling, as Connor stood and handed her the book with a grin.

* * *

 _Tada! I promise the chapters will start getting better. Now, the chapters are short, but around the time the quest begins, the story gets really interesting._


	10. Furies, Mistakes, and Old Vices

_Sup, my dudes? I tried to be cool... probably failed_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

* * *

 **"In which Leo falls back on an old habit," Hestia read.**

 **'Mrs Dodds lead them back through the museum, till they once again had reached the Greek and Roman section. Percy didn't seem all that worried, well not nearly as much as Leo. He didn't know that their teacher was a fury who was planning on killing the both of them, then sending their souls to be tortured by Hades. It was alright for some...'**

Poseidon and Hephaestus glared at Hades so hard, even the god of the dead shifted in his throne. The gods sunk low in their seats and some demigods squealed and ducked behind furniture or fellow campers.

 **'Leo was freaking out. This was a very bad situation to be in. He couldn't say it was the worst; he'd been through world war three, but still... Stuck facing a fury, who might or might not have backup, with no weapon save his fire (which might not work), and a very powerful demigod, who didn't know he was one. Not good.**

 **"Why are you freaking out man? It's just Mrs Dodds." Percy looked relaxed, too relaxed, even though he couldn't know about Mrs Fury. Leo absent mindedly wandered how many times Percy had gotten told off, to be so casual about it. The fact that normally Leo would be like that crossed his mind, and then was thrown aside by his ADHD brain when they reached the room with the stele. Dead end.**

 **"Percy, this is worst than just Mrs Dodds. If I die, run!" The look Percy gave him would have been hilarious, had Leo been joking. But he wasn't and this was serious. Chiron had turned up last time around, with riptide, if Leo remembered Percy's story right. But what if, by being here, Leo had prevented that happening? What if Percy died because of Leo? What if...'**

Poseidon tried to calm his racing heart, reminding himself that Percy was sitting before him, trying to hide his face from the fearful glances everyone was sending him.

 **'Calm down, Leo told himself, panicking won't help anything. Percy needs you to protect him right now, and kind of owe him for the amount of times his older self has saved you. Leo looked round the room for anything he could use. He remembered the room behind Mrs Dodds had a load of wires in. It was locked, but that was really no problem for a son of Hephaestus, all he needed was a distraction.**

 **Mrs Dodds was yelling at Percy now, "Did you really think you would get away with it..." So Leo began edging around her, one foot, two feet, shuffle. Eventually he reached the cupboard, and began to pick the lock, no longer registering what was happening behind him. That was his mistake.**

 **Percy's shout of "Leo" was all the warning he had, before he felt something swoop at him, and dived to the side, just in time for black claws, that seemed to be coated in some sort of poison, to slash the air where he had just been standing, then get caught in the wooden door.'**

Hephaestus breathed a sigh of relief.

 **'While the fury was trying to free herself, Leo ran back to Percy, "Thanks for the warning man, any longer, and I'd have been monster chow." Then Leo stood in front of him, a gesture, which seemed to be innocent, but which the fury defiantly understood, judging by the widening of her eyes, and the scowl on her wrinkled face.**

 **"So you would stand by him, Son of Hephaestus, even after his great crime?" The fury was advancing faster now, her scowl becoming a snarl. "Even after his crime agaist the gods?"**

 **Ignoring Percy's confused questions, "Son of who? What... Leo?" Leo squared up to the fury.**

 **"He didn't do it! He hasn't done anything; he doesn't even know what he is. He hasn't got the bolt, or the helm. He doesn't know... It wasn't him."**

 **The fury stopped in her tracks, and turned her attention off Percy, and onto Leo. "You know of the helm's disappearance. That knowledge was not made known even to Olympus. Only the thief would know."**

 **Well schist! Leo knew he was going to make mistakes... But that was terrible. He'd gotten the suspicion off Percy, and onto himself. Good going Leo. Leo decided he had a bad habit of being unduly sarcastic when he was a about to die. It was rather worrying that he had almost died enough to know that.'**

"Yes, it is!" Hephaestus cried, looking one shock away from a heart attack.

' **Again the fury dived at him, and again he managed to just leap out the way. Mrs Dodds, (who wasn't quite the old maths teacher from Georgia) kept diving at him, and he wasn't quite fast enough to dodge every time**.'

"What?! That doesn't sound good," Nyssa exclaimed, raw fear igniting in her eyes.

"No dip!" Shane yelped, holding onto Leo's arm so hard, the elder flinched and tried to pry his brother's fingers from the limb gently.

' **His hands began to heat up, and sparks began to show in his eyes. The next time the fury dived; Leo stood still and flamed on.**

 **The fury couldn't pull out of the dive in time, and ended up bowling into him, and hitting him into the painting of his father, which surprisingly, didn't go up in flames, but did have a very hard frame. Leo's flames died, and he stood up, his head slightly bleeding from the fall.'**

Shane whimpered and Beckendorf growled.

"Guys," Leo reasoned, "I'm right here."

"With scars!" Travis countered.

"Scars?" Jake asked.

"You didn't tell them?" Leo looked truly shocked.

"No," Connor shook his head, "it was your secret to tell."

' **The burnt fury was growling at him again, but she couldn't fly any longer, her wings were badly scorched. She howled in pain, and lunged again, madness glinting in her eyes, her claws outstretched, and moving so fast, that the disorientated Leo didn't have time to move, or flame on.**

 **Then a bronze blade erupted from her chest, and golden powder rained down on Leo. He looked up and saw Percy, with a celestial bronze sword in his hand, and a strange expression on his face. Looking behind him, he saw Grover, with a accusing look on his face. Then Chiron his face carefully blank. Leo was honestly surprised he hadn't been sucked down to the underworld; then again Hades was probably preparing a specific spot in the fields of punishment first.**

 **Leo moved forward warily, and almost fell over; maybe the head injury was worse than he had thought. His movement had opened the flood gates on all of Percy's questions though. "What was she? Why was she here?"**

 **Leo decided that since Percy had been attacked and he was going to be plunged into a world of gods and monsters, he deserved the truth first. "That was a fury, a type of monster, and she was looking for someone."**

 **"She came after me first, but then you said something, said the helm was missing too. What helm? And why did she call you the thief? And a son of Hephaestus?"**

 **"Because I am. Well, I am a son of Hephaestus, a demi-god, I'm not the thief." Yeah thought Leo like they'll believe me now. He looked at the faces in the room, Grover's accusing look, Chiron's disgusted and disappointed one, heck even the statues seemed to be looking down at him. But worse by far, the look that made Leo stumble back was the look of utter betrayal on Percy's face, and his whispered words, "Why didn't you tell me?"**

 **The looks were burning him, the emotions were overtaking him, the hatred and disappointment was making him feel sick, and his head was throbbing so badly it looked like the room was growing and shrinking with every breath. It was too much, it was all too much. A long forgotten part of Leo arose in him again. An instinct left over from his days on the streets, back before he knew he was a demi-god, plan B...**

 **Run.'**

The entire room seemed to release a shaky breath they hadn't realized they were holding.

"So," LT Percy said, awkwardly, "I guess I'll read next."

He took the book. "Chapter eleven: In which Leo becomes a stalker."

* * *

 _That's that. Peace out! (Oh my gosh, that was lame. Look away; look away... I'm just kidding, but seriously, I am such a nerd. I love that about myself!)_

 _REVIEW! If not, Leo dies!_

 _... Did you seriously think I was going to kill my favorite character? Seriously, guys, I was being dramatic!_


	11. The Art of Stalking

_In this chapter, I will be teaching you about the art of stalking. Your welcome._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Chapter 10," LT Percy read, "in which Leo becomes a stalker... excuse me?"

Both Leo's blushed until LT Leo, who was finally starting to realize that the gods weren't going to kill him at a random time, laughed, awkwardly, "I may or may not have been stalking the quest trio."

"Quest trio?" LT Percy questioned.

"What else am I going to call you? The lightning thief trio? Oh, wait, that's good."

"But I didn't steal the lightning Bolt!" Percy countered.

"No, but you're searching for the lightning thief," Leo argued.

Percy opened his mouth, but he quickly shut it. He knew better than to argue with _Leo Logic._

' **Leo was cursing up a storm, ironic, because a storm had almost killed him a few months ago.'**

Hephaestus glared at Zues.

' **But there he was, sitting in an alleyway, cursing himself six ways till Sunday because of his stupid instinct. So what if that instinct had saved his life multiple times, right now he was annoyed at it. Chiron defiantly thought he was the thief after that, as did Grover. And even if Percy hadn't when he had run, eventually Chiron and Grover would convince him that Leo was evil. After that, Leo defiantly couldn't return to Yancy. Well unless he wanted to be sucked into the underworld, or killed, or dragged to Olympus. Or sucked into the underworld, killed then dragged to Olympus.**

 **He would have to steer clear of Percy and co, actually steer clear of anything that was not mortal, till his innocence was proved. He viciously thought he'd love to see Chiron's face when he realised he was wrong.'**

It's a strange thing to see a centaur blush, especially as much as Chiron did right then.

' **Leo sighed as he turned away from the departing school bus, if Kronos could see Leo; he was probably laughing himself silly. Leo wondered how he was going to save the world when the people he was trying to save now thought he was the enemy. He began walking down the alleyway, away from the museum, trying to find something to keep his spirits up.**

 **Leo mentally snorted as he remembered what had happened as he ran out of the museum, as he rounded a corner; he tripped over a vase that was positioned on a white step. A vase he thought he recognised. It seemed that whatever time period he was in, that vase was fated to shatter into a million pieces.'**

"Are you serious?!" Annabeth squealed. "That's a priceless artifact!"

"Sorry. If they didn't want someone to trip over it, they shouldn't have left it on the step!" Leo defended.

"So _you're_ the one that broke the vase," LT Percy chuckled, drawing out the you're. "They tried to blame me for that until they found out that it was broken after we left."

' **Leo's head was still throbbing although the bleeding had stopped, and though he hadn't noticed it before, he had three gashes down one of his arms. He reckoned that was from the fury's claws. He remembered them being coated in poison though, and as such, was wandering what it would do to him. It didn't seem to be doing anything yet.'**

"You were poisoned?" Chris yelped. "How are you still alive?"

"Wait, patiently, dear brother, and you shall find out," Leo said in an ominous voice.

"Was that supposed to be a British accent?"

"... Maybe."

"Once again, Leo, stick to American."

' **He reached the end of the alley way, and sat down on one of the bins there. Chaos had said that the wallet and notebook would return to his pocket right? But he had lost all the designs, all the blueprints that he was so glad of having had been lost. No-one would pick them up for him, a teacher would probably bin them. Aw man that sucked.**

 **He thought of the note book and wallet, and felt two weights drop into his pockets, then a third. He checked, and his wallet and notebook had arrived, as well as a blue bag that had a square of something in. He cautiously opened the bag, and found a square of Ambrosia, which he gratefully swallowed.**

 **He flipped over the notebook cover and wrote...**

 **-Sorry I messed up. I know I shouldn't have run, and I've probably wrecked all your plans. Please don't kill me. -**

 **The reply arrived almost instantly...**

 **-Valdez, yeah, you messed up, but everyone makes mistakes, and no, you didn't mess up my plans. This fits in rather well actually, so don't stress too much. You will need to follow my notes to the tee now though. Or else a lot of things could go wrong.-**

 **Leo let out a long breath that he hadn't realised he was holding, and re read the passage. Great! He wasn't dying anytime soon. It seemed like Chaos was more forgiving than most deities, as well as more choice giving. He looked back at the page, to see another sentence, which succeeded in making him grin.**

 **-I AM NOT MOST DEITIES!-**

 **-Yeah, sorry, um, thanks for not blasting me, and all that jazz. But do you know what the poison on the fury's claws was meant to do? Cus so far it's done nothing. Um, is that faulty poison, or my general awesomeness?-**

 **-The fury's poison was meant to burn someone up from the inside, against a son of the sea, like Percy Jackson, it would be devastatingly effective. Against most demigods it would cause extreme pain, and an injury that could not be healed by ambrosia, which would probably result in death or amputation. Against you however it does absolutely nothing, as the fire you already posses prevents you from burning. So the poison does nothing, and actually enhances your fire ability.-**

 **Lucky me, thought Leo, and lit a finger on fire to test it. His entire arm ended up lighting up, with massive flames.'**

"Holy shi-"

"Watch your language around the kids!"

Hephaestus, meanwhile, was gaping. "I didn't know it did that."

 **'"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Ok enough fire." That was scary. Awesome, but scary. The last time he had lost control of his fire like that had caused his mom's death.'**

"Leo-"

"Yeah, I know, I know, it's not my fault. Can we get on with the story?" Leo was getting incredibly cranky and fed up with all this stop blaming yourself thing.

' **He didn't want to burn the houses around him down. That would suck.**

 **Leo figured that since he had the wallet again, he might as well buy himself some dinner. He slipped off the bin, realising as he did that his head had stopped throbbing. He left the alleyway feeling remarkably better than when he had entered.**

 **As Leo was finishing the burger he had bought from a nearby fast food place, he felt his pocket warm up, and the notebook start to vibrate.'**

"So like a phone?" Annabeth questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much."

' **Well that was handy. He retrieved the notebook and flipped it open to see another message from Chaos.**

 **-Leo, since Hades believes the fury's poison has killed you, and will continue to believe it until you don't arrive in the underworld and Zeus also thinks you're dead. You're not going to have many monsters seeking you out. You are rather unknown at the minute. As such, and since only three persons can go on a quest, you will be trailing Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood, and keeping them as safe as possible. Please remember though, that Grover can still recognise your scent, so kept as far away as possible. Remember that he thinks you are the enemy. I suggest you start heading in the direction of camp. You won't be able to enter it, but you will have to wait outside for Percy and his companions to leave on their quest.-**

 **Leo sighed, well, if Chaos hadn't sent this message, Leo would have been completely lost on what to do, but it seemed that he was going to become some sort of stalker. Joy! Oh wonderful, Percy's sarcastic tendencies seemed to be catching.'**

"Hey, my sarcasm is a unique talent!" Percy glared, jokingly.

"Yes, it is, Percy, but mine is better!" Leo laughed.

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is not!"

"Is so... oh, man!"

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth murmured.

' **Leo stood up from the wall he had plonked himself down on. Though he was pretty sure Percy wouldn't be attending camp till the first days of summer vacation, he might as well get a head start. He bet that getting to camp would be a pain, if not for the money Chaos had given him. Did he mention that he really liked that guy?**

 **Leo was, once again bored. He didn't really want to play with his fire, because, even though he was pretty sure the fury's poison had worn off, he didn't want to be responsible for burning down his tent. Yes, he bought a tent. He wasn't sure how long he would have to camp outside of Camp. But he wasn't interested in being soaked should it rain in that time.**

 **He had bought a few changes of cloths and a load of food before he left Manhattan, so he wasn't still in the slightly bloodstained cloths that he fought the fury in. He hadn't encountered any monsters. Well, except for one Cyclops, who decided Leo would make a good meal, but wasn't prepared for Leo being able to fight. It was at times like these that Leo was very glad he was a son of Hephaestus. If he had been a child of one of the big three he wouldn't be able to camp like this, not without being overrun by monsters at any rate.**

 **It was getting dark now, so Leo finished the taco's he had made, and stamped out the fire. He didn't want someone to see the smoke. Chiron would probably send someone out to check. That would result in the whole why aren't you dead, I'm gonna drag you to Olympus thing. And Leo did not want to go there.**

 **The general idea from the notes Chaos had sent him, was that he would wait till Percy arrived at camp, help him if he needed it, whist remaining hidden, then when Percy was in camp, leave. According to Chiron, Leo would have to head to a place called auntie M's garden gnome emporium. He was pretty sure that was the home of medusa. He was going to have to get rid of Medusa before Percy arrived, or make sure she didn't kill Percy.**

 **Leo was leaning towards pretending to be a statue, then, if Percy was is too much danger, unfreeze. He hoped Medusa didn't routinely look her statues in the eye though, or Leo would have a problem. He made sure to buy some grey spray paint that he would make sure to cover himself with. If he was going to pretend to be a statue, he would have to make it convincing.**

 **Leo heard a noise that sounded like a tortured cow. He peered at the road, and made out a car travailing along it, a car that seemed to be driving rather fast. Leo looked harder, and let out a gasp. He couldn't blame the driver for speeding when they were being chased by the Minotaur. Wait a sec, chased by a Minotaur, here came Percy. Leo watched as the sky darkened, and rain began to fall.**

 **Lightning lit up the sky, and the car was struck of the road. Leo was running before he registered it, was Percy alright? Had this happened the last time round? He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that Percy was staggering out of the car. He was carrying a motionless lump. Grover! No, thought Leo, even if you hate me now, I don't want you to die. The from where he was standing half way across the field, he head Grover moan "Food..."**

 **Leo, despite the seriousness of the situation, snorted. Trust Grover to think of food at a time like this. He watched as Percy's mom got out the car, and after a mini argument, they both began dragging Grover up the hill, toward Thalia's tree. Leo realised that that grass really needed cutting.**

 **The next thing Leo registered was Percy's mom disappearing into gold light.'**

Both Percys flinched.

' **Leo felt terribly guilty at that. He remembered Chaos telling him that this had to happen, and that Percy's mom wasn't really dead, but he still could have saved her!'**

"Leo!"

"I know better now!"

' **He watched as Percy seemed to get a rush of energy, and killed the Minotaur with his own horn. Wow, talk about extreme. Then Percy picked up Grover and disappeared beyond the borders of Camp.**

 **Leo wiped the tears from his eye. It seemed stupid, it was Percy's mom, not his, and the light hadn't killed her, but it had just reminded Leo of his own mom's death. Percy would get his mom back, but Leo... He sniffed as he made his way back to pack up his stuff. His mom would never come back.'**

There were several moments of silence.

"Well, that was kind of depressing," Connor tried to break the ice.

Leo laughed, weakly. "Yeah, talk about putting a damper on things!"

"So who reads next?" LT Percy asked.

"I will," Annabeth volunteered.

Before she could continue, a bright light blinded them all.

When it faded, a girl in a long white dress with a long black braid twisted into a neat bun stood in its place.

Leo gasped. "Reyna?"

* * *

 _Gasp! Oh, Myra, what are you planning?_

 _I'm talking to myself. Maybe I should go to sleep..._

 _Nah._

 _REVIEW!_


	12. ADHD Sucks When Trying to Be A Statue

_Chapter 12!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Who the hell are you people?" The girl snarled, glaring at the boys in particular.

"Reyna, calm down. I'm guessing you just came from Circi's Island?" Leo asked, holding his hands up in the universal signal that he meant no harm.

The girl- presumably Reyna- turned to him. "How did you- you're the boy." It wasn't a question.

A befuddled Leo stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Dreams," the girl said dismissively. "You're Leo Valdez."

"Yeah, and you're Reyna Amírez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona, Roman goddess of war."

The girl nodded. "Why am I here?"

One long explanation later...

"Alright, let's continue reading. I want to get back to my sister as soon as possible," Reyna said, seating herself among the Athena children (their mothers being goddesses of war, Bellona and Athena children had a lot in common).

Annabeth simply nodded and obeyed.

"Chapter 11: In Which Leo tries not to sneeze."

"What?" Beckendorf asked.

"You'll find out," Leo dismissed, waving his hand at Annabeth in a gesture to continue reading.

 **'Leo was standing in front of Auntie M's. He had already coated himself in the grey paint, and looked like a statue, well at least if he could stand still he would. He had positioned himself next to a satyr, one who reminded him slightly of Grover. He hoped they weren't related.'**

Grover shook his head sadly. "Poor Uncle Ferdinand."

Dionysis hid his face behind his magazine to conceal his sadness. Poor Ferdinand Underwood, got himself killed. He really should've been smarter, but that didn't make his death any less depressing. (Don't look so surprised. Even gods have feelings!)

 **'Leo had been standing there for no longer that ten minutes, and already had about ten dozen itches.**

 **It would be hard for any ADHD demigod to stand still long enough to pretend to be a statue, but it was doubly hard for Leo. Being a son of Hephaestus Leo was generally fiddling with something. His fingers were never normally still, and it was a struggle to try to cease their movement. He was just about to sneeze when he saw a figure in a black veil leave the building.'**

Several people stiffened. That was a monster, without a doubt.

' **His muscles stiffened to the point he actually felt like a statue. If that wasn't Medusa, then he was a Cyclopes. Leo was pretty sure he wasn't a Cyclopes.'**

Travis grabbed Leo's face and looked unto his eyes. "Nope, two eyes."

Leo shoved Travis away, playfully, chuckling.

 **'The figure had a strange noise following her, like snakes hissing. Leo bet that was her hair.**

 **The figure started to walk around the garden. Leo sincerely hoped that she wouldn't realize he wasn't a real statue. If she had numbered the statues that he was in big schist.'**

"Schist?" Reyna asked.

"Long story."

' **Really big schist. He watched as she approached him, running pale hands over each statues shoulder, he heard her whispering to each statue, her voice enchanting. He was almost tempted to reveal himself, to step out of the line and do whatever she wanted...**

 **Leo was snapped out of it by the sound of approaching voices. That was Percy's voice, and Grover's. So, the female voice... Wow, Annabeth sounded so whiny-'**

"I did not!"

"You really did, Annabeth," Percy disagreed.

Annabeth just hurumphed and crossed her arms.

'- **he had never heard her talk like that before. He was now more than willing to believe what the Stoll's told him about Annabeth being a right brat before Percy came along.'**

"Travis, Connor!"

"Sorry!" They shouted, not sounding sorry at all.

' **Then again, it was the Stoll's, and everything they said should be taken with a pinch of salt.'**

"True."

"First rule of camp, buddy."

' **Medusa froze, and then almost ran back inside, with her voice becoming less enchanting as she went. "New prey", didn't really sound very appalling, especially when Leo knew that said prey, were his friends.**

 **Three figures came in sight. Looking over at them, Leo wondered what had happened to make them lose the supplies they had no doubt left camp with. Judging by the looks on their faces they had already met some monsters. Grover looked like the next monster would melt him into a Grover puddle.'**

Grover blushed.

"Sorry, Grover, I didn't mean it like that," Leo said.

"It's cool."

' **It seemed like Medusa's attraction was already working on Percy and Annabeth. They were heading straight to the door Medusa had just gone through. Grover was holding back, and looking around, more warily than his companions. His eyes landed on the statue near Leo.**

 **"That looks like Uncle Ferdinand..." Then he realised he had been ignored by his companions. "Guys, something smells off".**

 **"Your nose is still clogged up from the furies."'**

Grover looked down, his expression hurt and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, man, I really didn't mean it," LT Percy said.

"It's okay. Medusa's influence is powerful," LT Grover said.

"That still doesn't justify what I did," Percy disagreed.

"Once again, Percy, it's fine," Grover told him.

 **'Even from the distance that they were, Leo could see Grover's hurt expression. He would have frowned, but didn't want to crack the paint. It annoyed him though, that Medusa's enchantment could make Percy disregard his friends like that. Grover already had self confidence issues, and this rejection wouldn't help.'**

"Confident issues you shouldn't have," Leo said. "Trust me, man, in a few years, you won't have anything to be self cousnscious about."

"Why?" Grover asked.

Leo smiled, mysteriously. "You'll see when the time comes."

' **Leo watched as they knocked on the door, and were invited in. He didn't hear the story that Percy gave, but judging by the look Annabeth shot him, it was terrible.'**

"It truly was."

"It was awful."

"Thanks, guys," Percy replied, sarcastically. "I feel the love."

 **'Even in the future Percy had never been very good at lying. He hoped that they would come back. However he reckoned that if Medusa was going to turn them to stone, she would do it in the yard, so she didn't have to drag the statues around.**

 **Leo's urge to move had vanished with the encroaching doom of Percy &Co. Even if Percy no longer thought of him as friend, he was still Leo's friend. It would suck if Percy was turned to stone.'**

"That's an understatement," Grover laughed and Leo nodded. He of all people should know that it would suck to lose Percy, considering for him, it'd be the second time.

' **It took longer that Leo had figured it would for them to return outside, Leo was almost freaking out by the time they reemerged, if they had been turned to stone then the titans would win, and then Gaia would come back, then...'**

"Mini panic attack," Christopher summarized.

The Lightening Theif trio and Leo (the future ones) exchanged glances. How would they react to Leo's break down in later chapters?

' **Then Percy came out, following Medusa, with Annabeth and Grover following Percy. Annabeth had realised who Medusa was, judging by the look on her face, but Percy was still under Medusa's twisted spell, and didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon. They posed, as if for a photograph, but Medusa didn't bring out a camera.**

 **Grover again looked over at the statue by Leo. "That is Uncle Ferdinand!"**

 **"Get down Percy". They all looked away, as did Leo, when Medusa removed the veil. Leo looked at Percy, who was looking upward. No!**

 **He picked up a stone, and lobed it in Percy's direction, at the same time as Annabeth shouted "Percy don't". The stone him Percy's hand, and made him glance in Leo's direction. Leo had frozen, but it seemed like Percy recognised him. His face contorted with sorrow, and he looked back at Medusa with anger in his eyes. He uncapped Riptide, and swung the blade in an upward arc, severing Medusa's head from her shoulders.**

 **Annabeth came behind him, holding the veil, and looking away; she dropped it over Medusa's head, and then looked at Percy. "Percy, what was that? You just suddenly beheaded her. Not that I'm not glad you saved us, but... Why were you so mad at her?"**

 **"Yea Perce, what was that about?" Grover added.**

 **Percy looked at Grover "look, I know you and Chiron said that Leo was probably the thief, and the one who took the bolt to Had... The lord of the dead. But he was my friend first, and... I still don't think he did it, but... Well. Look over there." Percy had pointed in Leo's direction at the last sentence, so Grover and Annabeth looked over.**

 **"Uncle Ferdinand..."**

 **"To the left of him."**

 **"Oh."**

 **The three of them came in his direction, Percy with a look of sadness on his face, and Grover face a mix of sadness and an emotion that Leo couldn't define. It kind of looked like Grover thought he had gotten what he deserved, but was still sad about it. He didn't even try to read Annabeth's face, he couldn't in the future past, and he probably couldn't now.**

 **As the trio approached, Leo tried not to breath, he was meant to be a statue, and to be breathing would kind of give the game away. Leo felt a mix of emotions at their reactions to him. He was happy that Percy still didn't think he was the thief, and that Grover was sad over him, even though he thought he got what he deserved. He was feeling a bucket load of guilt though, Percy was almost crying over him, and he wasn't even dead.**

 **He was again feeling the urge to sneeze, and found himself hoping that the three would leave so he could move again. Percy got another angry look on his face, and then returned inside, and came out with a box. He put the head of Medusa in the box, and then wrote it to Olympus, with regards Percy Jackson.'**

"Percy!" Chiron admonished. "That was a bad idea."

"Mmm, yeah."

"Don't worry, Chiron, there will be tons more," Leo laughed and Chiron, plus Poseidon, Annabeth, and several others, groaned.

' **It took all of Leo's effort to not laugh at this. He was so glad Percy was his friend. The comedy was unparalleled. He hoped that the gods wouldn't kill Percy for this. Although he was pretty sure that he remembered a tale told on the Argo two of Percy sending insulting mail to Olympus, and getting away with it. He reckoned if Percy wasn't blasted the first time, then he wouldn't be this time. Still it was a rather risky thing to do.**

 **With one last look at Leo, Percy led the three out of the yard and towards the woods on the other side of the narrow, dirt tracked road.'**

"Well, who reads next?" Annabeth asked.

"I will," Reyna offered, taking the novel. "Thank you."

"Chapter thirteen: In Which Leo is Nothing but a Stalker."

* * *

 _Well, that's that. Thanks for sticking with the story._

 _REVIEW! Por favor! Please! Please in a bunch of other languages I don't speak!_


	13. More Stalking!

_Chapter 13!_

 _Be prepared. The end of this chapter... I may send a few of you into shock or give you heart attacks. Please don't sue._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Seriously, dude, you need a new hobby," Travis laughed. "Stalking is overrated. How about... pick pocketing?"

"No thanks."

"Lying?"

"Do that everyday, but it's not exactly a hobby. Next one."

"Hmm... thievery?"

"No, thank you."

"Match making?"

Leo smirked. "Oh, Percy, Annabeth..."

"NO!" The two shouted in unison.

"Aww... they're already talking in unison," Leo cooed, playfully. "I'm pretty good at this. "

"Not as good as me!" Aphrodite chirped and the demigods glanced at each other.

"Yeah... okay."

"Could I read please?"

"Sure."

' **Leo had been glancing periodically through the dividing glass of the train compartments to check that Percy Annabeth and Grover were still there. He had become paranoid about losing them since it had taken him about three hours to find them last night. He had borrowed some water to wash the paint off, but seeing as it was water from a monster hideout, he wasn't bothered about paying it back.**

 **After he had found them, and set up camp not too far away, he managed to sleep for a bit, which was more than he was expecting. He woke up to the yaps of a poodle. After he had packed up, and returned to spying on the other three, he found it was a pink poodle. A male pink poodle. Leo tried so hard not to laugh. He ended up having to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep quiet. It was a rather unfortunate fate for the poodle, and Leo honestly didn't blame it for running away. He made a mental not to try and get Frank to transform into a pink poodle, when he saw him again. Although that probably wouldn't be for a few years.'**

"You should so do that!" Connor shouted.

"Agreed, and send us a picture," his brother chuckled.

Leo smiled. "Oh, don't worry, my friends, I will."

"You can be very creepy when you want to be."

"It's one of my many talents."

' **Leo found it more shocking that the poodle was willing to return to its owner so that train tickets could be bought, than the fact it could read signs. He made a mental note to never underestimate pink poodles. They could read, although they were pink. The theme of pink poodles seemed to be stuck in his brain.'**

"It's stuck in mine, too, " one of the Hermes kids stated, scratching his head. "I will never look at poodles the same way ever again."

' **Leo gave his head a shake and turned his gaze away from the three in the other compartment to the window. If he wasn't mistaken, that was a herd of centaurs. Leo wondered if they were Greek or Roman centaurs, and whether they knew the party ponies. Now they were awesome. Leo remembered when he had met the party ponies halfway through the building of the Argo two. The paintball fight that followed was the stuff of legend.'**

The Hermes and Dionysis kids perked up.

"Paint ball fight?"

"Party?"

Chiron sighed. "Don't even think about it."

"Awww!"

' **Leo saw Percy stand up, and make his way down the compartment. He opened the dividing doors, and made his way past Leo's seat. Leo had changed his cloths, and stuck his hair under a baseball cap. If Percy recognised him he was stuffed. He had tried to make his skin a little darker, but the fake tan he had bought in Manhattan didn't really look that good. He didn't even want to think about the look the shop lady had sent him when he put that on the till. He got the feeling she was mentally laughing at him.**

 **Percy had past his seat, and wasn't looking at him funny, which was good. He still felt slightly guilty over pretending to be dead. A guilt that had intensified when he heard the conversation Percy and Grover had last night.**

 **-FLASHBACK-**

 **Leo felt like he had been looking for the others for years, in reality it was just a few hours, but he had been growing more worried as the night wore on, he realised that it was somewhat wise of them to forgo lighting a fire, but it made it really hard to find them. Which was probably what they had intended, but still.**

 **He heard Percy and Grover talking, and he was going to retreat a little and set up his own camp, but then he realized the subject of their conversation. Him.**

 **"Grover, do you still think that it was Leo who stole the bolt?"**

 **"I don't know Percy, Leo did run from us, I don't understand why he would do that if he wasn't guilty, I know you don't think he did it, but consider this, he liked pranks, maybe he thought of it as a prank."**

 **Leo cringed, enough of the past tense, it was depressing him, and he was the one being talked about!**

 **"Leo wouldn't do that! Yeah he liked pranks, but he knew where the line was, and this is so far over the line... Leo wouldn't have done this. Unless he had to."**

 **"I suppose you're right Percy. Leo didn't seem the sort to steal, not unless he had to. I think maybe the lord of the dead had some sort of hold over him, so he had to do what he said. Maybe it wasn't Leo's fault."**

 **Well, glad that you think I'm not the sort to steal, Leo thought. But I think you're still jumping to conclusions, how do you figure it was Hades who took the bolt anyway? I mean, it could be anyone, like say... Kronos!**

 **"I guess. But if he did steal the bolt, why did he protect me? Why didn't he just let me take the blame, and get off free? He didn't have to stop the fury killing me, but he did. What's with that?**

 **Uh Percy, thought Leo, maybe it's because, I dunno, you're my friend!**

 **"I don't know Percy, perhaps he thought of you as his friend, he didn't want you to get hurt, even if it cost him, which it did."**

 **"If Leo really did think of me as his friend... I still think of him as mine, I know I shouldn't because he probably did steal the bolt, but I can't help it. I don't think he deserved that. Being petrified by Medusa I mean. If he was under the hold of the lord of the dead, he didn't deserve that. I wish I could have helped. I feel like it's my fault."'**

"Percy Jackson! "

Past and present Percy fell off of their chairs and stared at the fuming Leos.

"If you don't stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong, I swear to the Gods, I will *Insert some very colorful language here* and then drag you to Tartarus and BEEEEEP!"

Future Leo suddenly paused. "Shane, do not repeat anything I just said."

"Gotch ya."

' **"Percy, it can't be your fault..."**

 **"I know, but it feels like it is. If I had been more... I don't know, but he shouldn't have had to die. He shouldn't have. Night Grover".**

 **"G'night Percy".**

 **-End-**

 **That was the moment when Leo had seen the Percy he had known shine through the strongest, the Percy who wouldn't give up on a friend, and it only increased his guilt. Now he felt terrible each time he saw the bags under Percy's eyes, the disappearance of his mom, and the supposed death of his best friend, weighing on him so badly that he couldn't sleep. Oh, and let's not forget that the world would dissolve into ww3 if his quest failed. That's a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and Leo couldn't help him. Well not yet anyway. He had to wait till Luke-"**

"Luke? What-"

Suddenly, Luke Castellan vanished with a flash of light and a note was left on his chair.

Leo picked it up and read:

"Luke Castellon has been removed. He will not be coming back to camp, but you will see him again. Continue reading."

"Short, but not so sweet," Leo muttered. "We better do as the note says."

 **'-was revealed as the thief before he could tell Percy that, yes, actually he wasn't dead. He was expecting a punch in the face after that though.**

 **Leo again turned away as Percy walked back down the aisle, now going the other way, back to Grover and Annabeth. Again Leo felt the urge to get up and join them, but he knew that doing so would be a bad idea.**

 **Leo kept watching them, feeling like a stalker again, he watched Grover's snoring, and Percy sit down again and fall asleep. He took the time to observe Annabeth. He had been focusing more on Percy and Grover, as they were the two he had made friends with, though only one of them still continued to think of him as friend.**

 **Annabeth looked far less confident than she had in the past future. Her posture was less straight than her future self, and her eyes were still as intelligent, but not as soft or welcoming as future Annabeth had been. She seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't accept any mistakes. Leo dreaded to think what this Annabeth would do after his accidental destruction of new Rome. She'd probably throw him of his own ship. He hoped that Percy could soften her out before she killed him for supposedly stealing the bolt.'**

"Sorry," Annabeth winced.

"You are forgiven."

"Wait, what does she mean by sorry?" Beckendorf asked.

"You'll find out later."

 **'Leo felt the train glide to a stop, and saw Annabeth drag Percy and Grover off, to visit the arch. He gathered his stuff, and made his way after them.'**

Bang! Boom! Crash!

"What?"

"Impossible," Leo whispered. "They're from... My future."

The kids stood, all drenched in blood and filth with eyes of cracked glass.

"Connor... Reyna... Echo... Lou."

* * *

 _Told you, shocking moment. I nearly had a heart attack, and I wrote it!_


	14. Leo Could Never Be A Spy

_Chapter 14! Meet the other 'survivors' of the Giant war. You'll have to read Under an Earthen Sky by NBROKENSHACKLESN to truly know what I mean by 'survivors', but it isn't required._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"So wait, these people... are from your future?" Percy asked, pointing at the four newcomers and then back at Leo.

The Latino nodded before he took a hesitant step forward. "Hey, guys."

The four demigods looked up, and the Pasts finally got a good look at them.

One girl looked almost like a ghost. She was practically transparent with features that were impossible to focus on, always fading in and out of reality. Wearing a torn white dress, her skin was caked with filth and dried blood. Her eyes were sad... broken.

The second girl looked like Reyna with a long black braid, several clumps of hair missing. Her skin was pale and just as dirty as the other girl's. She wore armor covered with dust and mud and splatters of blood. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were shattered.

The third girl possessed dark hair highlighted by neon green and her skin may once have been pale as snow but was now a mixture of brown and red from the filth coating her body. She wore a black tank top that was far too baggy on her thin frame and jeans. Her eyes held a twinkle of mischief, but it was so dim, it was almost nonexistent.

The only boy dawned brown curls almost black with soot and earth. He wore a camp shirt with three claw marks across the chest, outlined in red, and you could just see the red scars underneath. His blue eyes, which may once have been happy and care free, were now cold with guilt and sorrow.

"L-Leo," the second girl croaked. "Why are you-"

"Younger? We're in the past, Reyna."

Leo walked over to them and discussed the situation with them in hushed tones before escorting the group over to the chairs. While they seated themselves, Leo remained standing and turned to face the demigods.

"Alright, everyone. We will read three more chapters, bringing us to chapter fifteen, and then, we will take a break to allow them to get cleaned up and for all of us to eat.

"These four are Echo, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, Lou Ellen Summers, and Connor Stoll."

Jaws dropped.

People burst into tears.

A hand full left the room to puke.

Even the gods were in shock.

Leo picked up the book and began reading before a word could be uttered.

 **'It was official; Leo could never be a spy. Spies were meant to stay hidden and not lose their cool. Leo failed on both counts. He had been following the trio through the city toward the arch, despite knowing exactly where they were headed he managed to lose them, three times!'**

"How?" Chris asked.

"Well, the first time, Percy dragged them into an alleyway because there were tons of cops and I kept walking. The second time, Grover noticed me, so I veered to the left and took three wrong turns trying to find the main road. And the third time, a crowd of tourists got in my way, and when they moved, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were gone."

"Only you, Leo, only you," Nyssa sighed.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure Percy could do it too!"

"He's got a point," Annabeth agreed, "for once."

"Hey!" Percy and Leo shouted.

' **Each time he had a mini panic attack, he was also pretty sure that Grover noticed him following. Annabeth probably would have noticed, but she was too busy trying to reach the arch.**

 **Leo made a mental note to look less suspicious. The trio, with Leo following them made their way to the base of the arch. Now Leo wasn't a son of Athena, but he could still appreciate good architecture, and the arch was defiantly an example of that. He and the past future Annabeth had talked about architecture when they were both on guard on the Argo 2. Well Annabeth was on guard; Leo just couldn't sleep, and was at the helm. Most of his time on the Argo two was spent either at the helm or in his workshop. The bedroom he had built for himself was generally not used, or rented to Nico.'**

"Whose Nico?" Grover asked.

"You'll find out once we get to Las Vegas."

"Las Vegas?" The Stoll brothers gaped. "You got to go to Las Vegas?!"

The quest members and Leo shivered.

"Not a good memory," Annabeth stated.

"We got trapped in a hotel with a bunch of monsters and guys from the seventies," Percy continued.

"Annabeth almost killed Leo," Grover picked up.

"And I got kidnapped by some furries," Leo exclaimed, mock cheerfully.

"On second thought, let's not go to Las Vegas," Travis said to Connor, who nodded.

' **The trio was now having a conversation, and Leo broke out of his thoughts to eavesdrop. It seemed like he was doing that a lot lately. He edged slightly closer.**

 **"...Yeah, our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"**

 **Leo mentally snorted, yeah Perce, why don't you tell him that, I'm sure he'd be thrilled at you comparing his helm of awesomeness to Annabeth's invisibility hat.'**

Hades smirked at the description.

' **He'd probably do you the favour of blasting you into Tartarus for your trouble. Oh man, he had missed some of the conversation. Now Percy was speaking again.**

 **"...So how do we know he's not watching us right now?"**

 **"We don't."**

 **Way to make a guy feel confident Grover, now Percy's going to be all freaked out.**

 **..."Got any blue jellybeans left?"'**

"Seriously?" Annabeth asked.

"Blue jellybeans are delicious!" Percy protested.

"Anything blue is delicious to you, Percy!" Leo chuckled. "I remember in the future, Annabeth got you a box of blue cookies and you kissed her until we locked you two in the stables before things got a little inappropriate."

"Eww... I'm dating Annabeth?" Percy suddenly squawked.

"You haven't figured that out yet?"

"No."

"...I give up."

' **Leo again mentally snorted; it was so like Percy to want blue food to calm him down. In the past future Annabeth had joked that he loved blue food more than her. Percy's sarcastic, yet deadpan reply of "Obviously" had sent the entire crew into hysterics.**

 **The elevators doors opened and Percy, Annabeth and Grover got on with a lady that gave Leo the shivers. He looked closely and he could've sworn she had a forked tongue. A forked tongue! Leo was on tenterhooks waiting for the elevator to return. He didn't want anything to happen before he got up there. Though if the woman was who he thought, then Zeus still believed Percy to be the thief. He wouldn't have sent Echidna after him for any other reason.**

 **So Hades thought Leo was the thief, Zeus thought Percy was, Poseidon knew it wasn't Percy, so probably though it was Leo too... Leo was stuffed until they realised it was Luke not he, who had stolen the bolt. He couldn't wait for that day... He was wishing he could see Chiron's face when he realised that Leo was innocent, and that he had mistrusted him and turned his friends against him, and near hunted him, in the last moments of his life. Or what Chiron would think had been his last moments. Leo guessed he did have a vindictive streak.**

 **The whole coming back in time, then pretending to be dead thing was really messing with Leo brain. He was in the process of figuring out whether he should hold Octavian responsible for the things he did in the future on not. He hadn't done them, but he would if not stopped, and... The elevator returned as Leo was still trying to figure it out. He gladly dropped his chain of thought and made his way on board.**

 **Leo was standing in the elevator with a family of three, a mom, a dad, and a little kid. Leo looked enviously at the kid. He didn't know how lucky he was to have both parents. He shook his head, and resumed his looking out over the city. It was cool that the elevator went up in an arch, but he figured that if the designers had changed the suspension cables route across the glass, the ride would go a lot smoother... It would wreck the design a bit though, to have thick metal cables across the glass panes, instead of hidden out of sight... Wow, thought Leo, son of Hephaestus moment over.**

 **The mother of the family of three looked over at him. "No parents?"**

 **Leo sighed, thinking about what his parents were probably doing. His dad was probably in one of his many workshops, and his mom... Well he hoped she was having a good time in Elysium. He realised he hadn't responded. "Nah, dad's to busy, and mom... she's not around anymore." The sad smile on his face answered the unspoken question, and the elevator was silent until it reached the viewing platform.**

 **When they reached the top, Leo couldn't help but gasp at the view. It was awesome. He stepped out of the elevator and toward the rail. After looking out over the city for at least a minute, he realised he should in fact be watching to see what Percy Annabeth and Grover were doing.**

 **Annabeth was doing pretty much the exact same as him, until she began evaluating the design, and she would have done it different there, and there. Grover and Percy seemed to be huddling in the middle of the sky deck, as far away as possible from the edge. They already looked ready to go. He was about to look away again when he heard Annabeth make a point about the elevators that he simply couldn't ignore. He checked his disguise and made his way over.**

 **Was it a stupid thing to do? Yes. Did it jeopardise his entire mission? Yep. Did he care? Not one iota. He interrupted Annabeth's monologue.**

 **"I don't mean to be rude, but if you were going to alter the paths of the cables in the elevator that much, while it would make the overall effect better, it would make the elevator ride so uncomfortable no one would want to come on."**

 **"Not if I had changed the balance of the elevator."**

 **"If you were to do that, you would have to alter the entire shape of the arch. You might as well just rip it down and start again."**

 **The debate between himself and Annabeth was broken by the guard calling out that the observation deck was about to close, and could people please make their way toward the elevator to start the decent. Two adults got on, along with Annabeth and Grover, before the later two realised that Percy couldn't get on, so started to get off. Percy stopped them, and said he would meet them at the bottom.**

 **The next thing Leo registered was the lady with the forked tongue's dog, turning giant. He immediately made his way to help Percy, till he heard the mortals screaming. Percy made eye contact with him, and though not recognising him as Leo, which would have been awkward, seemed to register him as a demi-god who knew what was happening.**

 **"Protect the mortals!" It was an order. And when Percy gave an order Leo obeyed. It wasn't the Percy he had followed into battle. But it was a Percy he would trust with his life. Leo ran to the family, and jumped in front, spread eagled, as the now fire breathing ex- Chihuahua hurled a fire ball right at them.'**

"Who reads next?"

"Me!" Jake yelped, ripping the book from Leo's hands.

"Okay, then."

* * *

 _I actually really liked that chapter. I actually proved to myself that I have a sense of humor. Now, I have to go write a few angsty stories. The moment's over._


	15. Superheroes and Little Kids

_Chapter 15!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

"Chapter fourteen: in which Leo is a superhero... what?" Jake asked.

Leo blushed. "Keep reading."

' **The fireball was one of the hottest Leo had ever been in, and that was saying a lot. Leo had been engulfed by a petrol fire, flamed on to turn bricks to ash, and been dumped in a lava flow'**

"When did that happen?" Beckendorf demanded, his eyes wide with worry.

Leo sunk deeper into his seat. "It's a long story, involving an army of monsters, some giants, and the Plegathon."

Beckendorf looked like he wanted to say more, but wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

Meanwhile, the gods were gazing at their children, particularly Hermes and Hephaestus. How bad was the future for it to break the joking son of Hephaestus and the go lucky child of Hermes?

' **and that was only a few of the fiery situations he had landed himself in. The woman behind him had stopped screaming and seemed to be in a state of shock. The man looked like he thought he was in a rather peculiar dream.**

 **The fireball spluttered out of existence, and Leo looked over at Percy, who had now been cornered by the giant Chihuahua, and looked in a pretty bad condition. Leo was about to run over and help, when he heard the whimpering of the little boy behind him. He couldn't leave the kid. His family were just mortals who had no idea what was going on. If Leo left them they could easily be monster chow. It would be cruel to just leave them to fend for themselves. But Percy needed help, he was poisoned. He was practically dying over there! Leo had to help his friend.**

 **Friend who knew what was going on, and had obviously got out of it last time round; or innocent mortals who would die without his protection. He was stalling and he knew it. He tried to figure out a way to help both... Wait a second; the arch was right by the Hudson River, and since he couldn't see it over either side of the corner of the arch he was standing in, then it was probably behind Percy. It wasn't the sea, but it was water, it would protect him. He'd get off the arch safely. That wouldn't really help Leo or the mortals any, but it would keep Percy safe, and that was one of Leo's priorities.**

 **He caught Percy's panicked eye. Leo screamed "jump, the water will protect you, jump!" He saw Percy's doubtful look toward the mortals, the three behind him, and the security guard. "I'll protect them, go!" Percy sent another doubtful look his way, then seemed to take him at his word, Leo watched as Percy lent back and almost in slow motion fell of the side of the arch.**

 **The woman behind him screamed, and while he could appreciate that it must seem like a nightmare to them, he wished she would shut up. He needed to think. He could protect four people more easily if they had their back to something solid, so it would be good if he could get everyone to stand by the elevators. That way, as soon as it came up, they could go down. He turned his head to address the family.**

 **"I'm sorry that you got involved in this guys, I promise I'll keep said monster away from you, but I would appreciate your cooperation. You need to head over to the elevators, and to the security guard. I'm gonna have to protect all four of you."**

 **The parents looked completely out of their depth, but were complying anyway. The little kid was whimpering pitifully. Leo hoped the ordeal wouldn't traumatise the boy; his day was turning out pretty bad. Pretty bad was a gross understatement.**

 **The four of them had reached the elevators where the security guard was still standing. He turned to Leo, with a look that said, if he didn't know what was going on within 10 seconds then he would be using his gun**.'

"He'd better not," Hephaestus growled.

"Um, Dad, I'm over here."

"Oh, right."

Hestia smiled, sweetly, at the two. It was nice to know how much Hephaestus cared for his children.

'" **I won't explain everything, because one, there's no time, and two, you wouldn't believe me. Long story short, Mr. big & ugly over there is a robotic device, probably from a terrorist organisation, and it just forced my friend into jumping off, he's survived worse things, but he won't be able to help us anymore. I know how to fight it, but I don't know whether it will go after me or you guys. If it goes after you, you'll have to trust me to protect you, I know how to." Deep breaths Leo, that pack of lies took ages to say.'**

The demigods blinked.

"You came up with that on the spot?" Travis asked, looking impressed.

Leo nodded with a shrug.

"Mind if we use that sometime?" Percy asked.

"Sure, why not?"

" **You're just a kid, how come you've fought things like this before?"**

 **Leo smiled somewhat sardonically, "call it the family business." The guards' next question was interrupted by the little kid, who had detached himself from his parents and was tugging on Leo's shirt.**

 **"Are you gonna fight the monster?"**

 **"That's right kiddo, that monster will be nothing once I've finished with it."**

 **"Are you a superhero? Superhero's get rid of things like that, so are you one?"**

 **Leo crouched down to the little boy's level. "What's your name kid?"**

 **"Benny."**

 **"Well hi Benny, my name's Leo, and yeah, I'm gonna fight the monster. I've gotta keep you safe. And if you want to think I'm a superhero, then why don't you go ahead and think of a superhero name for me."**

 **"Ok, Leo. But how are you going to fight it, It's so big!"**

 **"Don't worry Benny" Leo stood up, and ruffled his brown hair; "I've fought bigger and won."**

 **"Ok, I trust you Leo."**

 **Leo froze, no one had said that to him since he was five years old, and he was helping his mother in the workshop. "I trust you mijo". His voice was kinda catching when he replied, "Thanks kiddo."**

 **Echidna now moved from where she had been watching. Her hissing voice sent shivers down Leo spine, and sent Benny back to his mother's outstretched arms. "Very brave demigod, but how will you protect four at once, agaist my son?" Leo hated Echidna; he had since she had caused Piper and Clarisse's deaths.'**

Ares and Aphrodite snarled.

 **'Maybe she hadn't done it this time round, but the principle was still there.**

 **"Your son?" Leo shot back, "what anteater, to afraid to face me yourself, might break a nail?"**

 **"You will pay for that insult!" Leo yawned; "yada yada, you monsters are all so repetitive." He shot a bolt of fire from his hand, at the Chimera which was still peering over the edge of the arch, where Percy had fallen. It hit him right on the rump, and made it jump and spin around. However, it forgot that it was standing right on the edge, and so the jump up, turned into a jump off. The mad scrabble that it made to try and regain its' footing was so comical that Leo heard a giggle from behind him.**

 **"Oops, guess my hand slipped, are you going to throw anymore pathetic insults, or are you actually going to fight me now?" Leo stepped forward, "unless of course, it's because you're so blinded by my awesomeness that you can't bear to fight me, which I assure you, has happened before."'**

Laughter boomed.

"I wasn't kidding," Leo said, completely serious.

"Nice try, Leo," Connor chuckled.

"He seriously isn't," a voice croaked and they turned to Future Reyna. "You should've seen it."

The other three futures nodded.

"Woah," Travis murmured. "Awesome."

' **"I am forbidden from attacking this time, for Zeus is watching. But I hope you enjoy my parting gift, demi-god, and remember I am the mother of all monsters, you will never be safe now that you have my enmity."'**

Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, the Stoll brothers, a few others, and Hephaestus and his children looked quite concerned at that.

' **And with that the mother of monsters disappeared in a swirl of golden dust. Wait a minute that was how gods summoned people. Zeus had called her back, after Percy had gone, nice and thoughtful.**

 **Leo turned in a circle, and spotted three black lumps that hadn't been there before. Lumps that stood up; and were the size of trucks, albeit trucks with slobbering jaws, pitch black claws, and metre long canines. Did he mention that he hated Echidna? He saw Benny's wide eyes and heard the whimpers. He had to get rid of the hellhounds quick, they would defiantly go for the mortals. The first Hellhound lunged, and Leo grabbed a metal rod that was on the ground, it wasn't celestial bronze... Or at least it hadn't been. For as he was watching the metal took on a golden hue,-"**

"How?" Clarrise asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't know."

Meanwhile, the gods were glaring at Hephaestus, who just shrugged with wide eyes. He didn't even know Leo had The Gift (this is not a part of NBrokenShacklesN's story; I just wrote that because I needed an explanation).

' **just in time for him to heat it to over 300 degrees, and plunge in through the hellhound's heart. The monster instantly exploded into gold powder.**

 **Hellhound two and hellhound three both attacked at the same time, each leaping at Leo from opposite directions. Leo jumped backward just in time for them to crash headfirst into each other. He then attacked with the metal rod, thrusting it through the mouth of one of the hellhounds, until it emerged from the top of its head. The hellhound exploded much like its friend just had. Leo swung round to look for the other hellhound.**

 **Only to see it cornering Benny's mom. Leo ran as fast as he could, he wouldn't let Benny's family be torn apart, not the way his was. He wouldn't let that nice kid lose a parent. He knew what it was like to live without a mother. He couldn't in all good conscience let it happen to someone else. Let alone that nice kid who had trusted Leo to look after him. He wasn't going to break his trust like that.**

 **Leo took a running jump and pushed the lady away from the hellhound, in the process earning himself a giant slash across his arm, from the teeth that were lunging forward. Coincidently it was the same arm that had been sliced by the fury's claws in the museum, that arm was going to be all scars soon. Leo jumped to his feet and plunged the heated metal straight through the chest of the last hellhound, reducing it, as its brothers, to golden dust.**

 **Leo reached out a hand, and lifted the lady to her feet, then supported her back to her family, and the elevator that had just reached the top with a ding. Leo watched from a distance, with a sad smile as the family was reunited. He was glad he could look after Benny; he wondered if he would ever see the boy again, probably not. He'd have liked to hear what superhero names he came up with though...'**

"That's the end of the chapter," Jake announced.

"I'll read," Hestia quietly offered and Jake handed it to her kindly. "Thank you."

'Chapter fifteen: In which Leo buys lunch.'

* * *

 _***NOTE: The Gift is a gift Hephaestus and Hades can give to their children (since both work with metals) that enables them to turn any metal object to Celestial bronze or (if Roman) Imperial Gold {I totally made it up by the way}_

 _Bye bye!_


	16. Kind Deeds and Suspicions

_Chapter 16!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

'Chapter fifteen: In which Leo buys lunch.

 **'Leo made it back to the train just in time, the second he was on; it started moving away from the platform, he had seen the family he saved talking to a news reporter, and the kid explaining that they were saved by a superhero without a name. He stayed just long enough to hear Benny christen him HotRod, and then disappeared into the crowd before he could be recognised by the reporter.**

 **He wondered if there was a chance that he would ever see Benny again, he didn't know if the kid was clear sighted, or if he could just see a bit of the monster, like most kids could. He hoped it was the first. Although that might get him involved in the mythological world, which could be vastly unbeneficial toward his continuing health. He would rather he never saw the kid again, than Benny get hurt.'**

"A selfless demigod," Demeter said to Aphrodite and Artemis. "You don't see many of those any more."

"Much less a boy," Artemis added.

' **As the train built up speed, Leo made his way back to the compartment he had been sitting in; he could see Annabeth and Grover questioning Percy about what had happened on the top of the arch, well he didn't envy Percy now. He lent forward and slipped open the dividing door, listening hard to hear the conversation...**

 **"Percy, you say there was another half-blood on the arch?" That was Annabeth, she sounded worried, "You don't know how unlikely that is, and he could just as easily be a mist hidden monster or something."**

 **"He wasn't though, all the mortals made it down fine, and with no injuries, blabbering about terrorist and a secret service person who saved them. In fact the kid called him a superhero. But I didn't see him come down; I don't know if he made it down. You two should go back to camp, because everyone who helps me ends up dead. Mom, that kid, Leo, you'll probably end up dead if you come any further on this stupid suicide quest."**

 **Leo's guilt skyrocketed again, actually, none of them were dead, and two of them were the same person. He watched as Annabeth hit Percy on the arm, and Grover started bleating. "We're not leaving you Pe- er-cy".**

 **"Yeah seaweed brain, if not for us, you'd be a statue, you'd die in seconds if we left."**

 **"Thanks Annabeth, way to make me feel self confident."**

 **"And Percy," Grover added. "If the demigod on the arch could manipulate the mist to make it seem like he was a secret agent, then he's powerful enough that he could have easily gotten away. It's unlikely he's dead Perce."**

 **Leo lent back, he was mentally counting the punches Percy was going to give him when he found out he was alive. One for not telling Percy that he was a demi-god, one for running, one for pretending to be dead, one for the stunt at the arch... He was going to have a load of bruises once Percy was through with him, and he kinda deserved them.'**

"Yes, sir, yes, sir," LT Percy said to Leo. "And you'll be getting them during break."

 **'He picked a load of pipe cleaners out of his backpack, and started twisting them into random shapes, he really wished he hadn't run from Yancy, and lost his blueprints, he could probably have modelled a dozen of them out of pipe cleaners by now.**

 **The night got darker, and the dinning cart started serving, Leo got up to buy himself something, but as he was standing in the middle of the queue he realised that Percy and co didn't have much money. He figured the least he could do to help was buy them food.'**

Hestia grinned behind the book. He definitely wasn't like other demigods.

' **They would probably assume that a god or goddess had sent it.**

 **Leo bought three BLT baguettes, and a load of enchiladas, and four cans of coke. Then made his way to where the others were sitting, they looked asleep, but he had no idea if they were or not, ah what the Hades, he had bought the food now, so there was no way he wasn't giving it to them. He contemplated leaving a note, but figured that that would raise alarm bell, because either Percy or Grover would recognise his hand writing.'**

"Smart," Athena christined, saying it quietly enough that only the surprised gods could hear. It wasn't everyday you were called intelligent by the goddess of wisdom.

' **Leaving a couple of $50 notes would probably be helpful, so quickly he fished about 10 out of his wallet, and left them half hidden by the food.**

 **Just as Leo sunk into his own seat, and summoned a flame to burn some of his baguette to his dad-"**

Hephaestus smiled in thanks.

 **'Annabeth's eyes started flickering open. Leo had left the compartment door open so he could hear what the trio were saying, and he watched as Annabeth took in the food, then elbowed Percy and Grover to wake them up.**

 **"Oi, you too, wake up, someone's given us food."**

 **Percy let out a yawn as he sat up, "food? But we don't have any money, we can't afford it."**

 **"I know, seaweed brain, but there are baguettes and enchiladas..."**

 **"Enchiladas!" Leo snorted, that would be the word that Grover managed to hear; that satyr had an unnatural obsession with those things.'**

"It is not unnatural!"

"Yes, it is."

"Shut up, Percy."

' **"...Right in front of us. Hey Grover, you can smell monsters and demi-gods right, can you smell gods as well? Can you tell us how this food got here?" Annabeth turned to Percy who had been looking at the baguettes longingly. "Don't eat them yet Percy, we don't know if they're safe or not!"**

 **Leo mentally swore, he had forgotten about Grover's nose, if he could smell Leo by the food... He might as well jump off the train now. Leo watched as Grover lent forward and sniffed around the food. Grover went pale and sniffed again. "Guys, I think something's wrong with my nose. Either that or the aroma of the foods messing with the scent."**

 **Percy and Annabeth looked rather concerned, and then Annabeth spoke, "why Grover? What can you smell?"**

 **Grover looked up at them with a gulp. "Well, the food's defiantly not poisoned, but I can't figure how it got here. The scent... It's impossible. He's dead."**

 **"Grover who can you smell?" Annabeth leant forward; Percy had lost interest, and had opened one of the coke cans.**

 **"If it's not poisoned; then it's good enough for me."**

 **Leo snorted, Percy was a bottomless pit when he was hungry, actually, all the boys of the seven were. Leo got lost in his memories of the Argo two, and his friends. He remembered during the building of the Argo two, that Annabeth had come along with a gigantic bottle of blue food dye. That had been an interesting conversation.**

 **His attention was drawn back to the trio when he heard his name.**

 **"...Leo."**

 **He watched as the three stiffened completely. Annabeth looking at Grover like he'd just declared that lady Athena was an idiot.'**

Poseidon burst into chuckles. "Take that, Owl Face!"

"Shut your mouth, Barnacle Brain."

 **'Percy had frozen, to the point where it looked like he wasn't even breathing. "It's impossible Grover. There must be something wrong with your nose." Then in a tone that Leo had never heard from Percy before, a tone that sounded like an automatons' voice, emotionless and brittle. "He's dead."**

 **They all fell silent after that, and ate their food in silence. Even after, when they discovered the money, Annabeth just showed it to the others, and then put it in her pocket. It frightened Leo. Yeah, he'd realised that Percy would miss his supreme awesomeness, but he hadn't thought it would affect him that much.'**

"What?! Of course, it would affect me that much! I'm surprised it didn't affect me more! You're like my brother, Leo, and-"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I understand, but we weren't the best of friends in the future, so it was hard adjusting to being one of your best friends in the past!" Leo explained.

Percy seemed to except that as an explanation, and he sat back down.

 **'What sort of a friend was he? How could he do that to Percy? He groaned out loud, and resumed staring out the window, trying to banish the guilt that was crawling around his body.**

 **Sometime during his blank staring into the darkness outside the window, Leo fell asleep. The next thing he registered was the train gliding to a halt at Denver. None of the four had had a shower for a while, but the trio looked happier in the fact someone had helped them. Leo slipped of the train and followed them again; he had visited the toilets on the train, and had added more fake tan. He could happily say he looked nothing like himself, he looked like a right weirdo as well, but he was trying to follow the trio's example and remain positive. It sort of worked.**

 **The trio made their way to a do it yourself car wash, with Leo following them, and Leo figured the whole lot of them looked completely suspicious, any cop worth his donuts could figure they were up to no good. He watched from behind a tree, feeling like a ninja, as the trio made their way into one of the stalls then made a dash for the one next to it. He saw Annabeth glance his way, so slouched in his stall and set one of his fingers on fire, behind his other hand. When he blew, it looked like he was smoking. Annabeth looked on in mild disgust, and then turned away.'**

"Clever," Annabeth and Athena said in tandem.

"He's done the impossible," Apollo gaped.

"He got called clever by Athena," Hermes gasped.

"He also time traveled; I think we should get used to him doing the impossible," Dionysis stated, boredly.

 **'Leo heard a spray hose turn on, and an Iris message start. He crept to the dividing fence, and peered through a gap, seeing the Iris message, and a blond boy with a scar down his face. That must be Luke Castellan. Even knowing that this was the boy who would raise Kronos, and turn evil, Leo thought he looked pretty nice. Until he turned his way, and met his eye through the fence. That look in his eye was just how Octavian had looked when he sold the Romans out to Gaia, an almost insane glint.**

 **He heard the traitor speak, "Perce, you do know you have an eavesdropper right?"'**

"Jerk," Leo muttered.

"How did you hide?" Percy asked.

"Let's just say hanging out with the Stoll brothers was really beneficial," Leo answered. "Now, break."

* * *

 _Bye bye!_

 _(Oh, and if you would please, hit the review button. It's right below this message. If you do, I will be eternally grateful)_


	17. Taking A Break

_Shorter chapter._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"Jeesh, I almost forgot how badly we were injured," Leo muttered as he dabbed a moist towel to Future Reyna's split lip.

She smiled, weakly. "My injuries aren't half as bad as yours were."

Leo laughed, lightly. "That we can agree on."

...

"Thanks," Lou Ellen mumbled to Will as she rotated her ankle. "I forgot how good you were at healing."

Will frowned. "Really?"

"In our world, you've been dead for quite some time. It was March and you died back in July," Lou Ellen responded.

Will hesitated. "Did I die alone?"

Lou smiled ever so slightly. "No, you died with Nico; Cecil and I were there by your side."

"Who's Nico?" Will asked.

Lou chuckled. "Nico hasn't come to camp yet, but he's two years younger than you. You had a crush on him from the time he was twelve to the time of his death at age fourteen. You were going to ask him out after all of this was over, but you and Nico died on the battlefield, side by side. You and Nico shared a kiss right before Octavian blew up the area where you were standing. That kiss was your first and only. I think it was for Nico, too."

Will looked depressed. "Wow, talk about a romantic tragedy."

Lou nodded before smiling, weakly. "Yeah, but you said you wouldn't want to go any other way than dying heroically with the love of your life by your side. It was really sappy, but sweet, too."

"Thanks for telling me."

...

"Do you ever talk?" Apollo asked Connor, who shook his head. "Why not?"

Connor just looked down.

"You know, Hermes really cares for you," Apollo told him. "He talks about you and your brother all the time."

Connor smiled slightly at the first part, but he dropped it when Apollo spoke of his brother.

"Connor," Apollo said, quietly, looking so serious, his sister would be frightened. "Is your brother... you know... dead?"

Connor nodded, sadly, before he pointed at himself, then slashed a finger across his throat.

"You killed him? I'm sure that's not-" the vision hit Apollo like a freight train.

 _Connor was standing in front of his trembling brother, welding after knife high, his eyes golden and cruel. He brought the knife down..._

Apollo gasped as he was brought back to the present. "Oh, Connor, you were possessed. It wasn't your fault."

All Connor did was shrug, his eyes sad and guilty.

Meanwhile, the rest of the demigods and gods were in the dining room, eating as they laughed and talked... like they weren't reading about a time traveler that was trying to save a broken future.

"So, then, we planted the egg in the Aphrodite cabin and there was a riot! Shoes flying out the windows; perfume suffocating people; cursing and screaming and insults everywhere! Chiron had to break it up and he came out with his hair highlighted with hot pink nail polish!" Travis laughed.

"But when they found out it was us, we were in for it. Travis walked around looking like a clown for months, and all of my clothes were six sizes too small!" Connor groaned.

...

"And then, after that, we chased them around, cursing them to recite poetry until they were begging us to lift the curse," Kayla giggled.

"Yeah, and then, as extra payback, we told them we'd had dreams where they were killed by monsters and they believed us!" Austin howled.

"Finally, we would sit outside their cabin at midnight and play a song for only them to hear!" Will laughed.

"That's my kids!" Apollo cheered. "Take that, Ares!"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing! Sorry."

...

"So they decorated the roof with chocolate covered bunnies as a joke! Can you believe that?"

"It's a true insult to gardening!" Miranda agreed.

"Those boys are idiots to ruin all that hard work as a joke!"

"Oh, Mother, they're idiots anyway."

The Demeter kids chuckled.

...

"So, then, half way through the night, you heard this kaboom! And then, Luke landed in the center of the ring of cabins, covered in soot but otherwise unharmed."

"We found out later that the new kid had rigged Luke's bed to eject him when he got into it!"

"And the next week, we figured out that the little genius to do that was our little brother!"

"That's my boy!" Hephaestus said, proudly.

...

"We're back," Leo announced as he and the Futures stepped in. The Futures looked a lot better.

Reyna's hair had been brushed and washed, tied back in her usual braid, and she now wore a purple shirt with jeans. Her face was clean and more relaxed than even her past self's. Her sword was polished and hooked to her belt. Despite still being thin, she looked healthier than she had a mere hour before.

Lou Ellen had showered and looked like a taller and thinner version of her past self. Her hair was clean and her green highlights were brighter than they had been when they'd been stiff with mud. She wore a neon green shirt to match her highlights with a black hoodie and jeans. She was already doodling magical runes on her jeans.

Echo looked the same, but she was cleaner and all her cuts had been bandaged. Her dress was no longer torn and stained, but clean and new. Her eyes looked happier.

Connor's curls were washed and free of blood and dirt, looking more like his past self than a scarred hero. He wore an orange camp shirt and jeans that hung off of him, but not nearly as much as his other clothes had. His skin was still pale and his eyes like broken glass with his head down and shoulders slumped. He was still a sorry sight to look at.

They seated themselves and everyone expected them to eat everything in sight, due to how thin they were.

Yet, they didn't. In fact, their plates wouldn't satisfy a mere baby.

"If they eat too much, they'll get sick," Leo explained.

It was really sad how these young heroes had turned out.

"Who wants to read next?"

"I will," Past Reyna offered, taking the novel.

'Chapter sixteen: In Which Leo Meets the Di Angelos.'

* * *

 _Back to reading next chapter._


	18. Nico and Bianca Di Angelo

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN.**

* * *

"Chapter sixteen: In which Leo Meets the Di Angelos."

Hades perked up at this and Zeus growled as he realized who the book was talking about, but he kept his mouth shut.

' **Percy jumped up, handed the hose to Grover and sprinted around the dividing fence; uncapping Riptide as he went. But when he reached the other side, there was no one there. He looked up and down the road, but it seemed like the watcher had disappeared into thin air.**

 **Leo looked down on the top of Percy's head; he never thought he would think it but... Thank the gods for the Stoll's.'**

"Yeah!" The said demigods shouted in tandem while Katie rolled her eyes.

' **If it hadn't been for their lessons in parkour he would have been sliced by Riptide. Killed by his best friend was a death he didn't want to have. Not that he wanted to have any death, but you get his point.**

 **Leo was lying down on the roof of the car wash, but he decided that he had pushed his luck too far for one day. He waited until the trio had left before he got down; and in the meantime had great fun watching Annabeth terrify a couple of mortals. She could be awfully scary when she was in the mood. Sure he had seen her mad in the past future, but wow. He made a mental note to never get on her bad side, ever!'**

Annabeth smirked.

' **Leo watched the trio leave the car wash, Percy glancing suspiciously behind, before he slipped off the roof, and made his way down the road, looking for somewhere he could buy food. He slipped into a diner and sat down in one of the seats. He flipped open the communicating notebook, and decided he really needed to come up with a better name for it. CN- cartoon network, no, um... Ugh! Curse his ADHD brain. He dug in his pocket for a pencil and wrote...**

 **-Hey, Lord Chaos...**

 **I've heard the story of the water park that Ares sends the guys too, do I need to go? I would, only there's going to be Hephaestus TV there, and I bet my dad will recognise me, so...-**

 **\- Valdez**

 **You may forgo the water park, no monsters will attack them there, but you must remain here till they return, Ares will say something to Perseus that I think you should hear. After that, you must go directly to Lotus Hotel and Casino, there are two people there that you must meet.-**

 **Leo figured he had about three hours off from stalker duty, so ordered a massive hamburger; it was fatty, processed and completely unhealthy... So absolutely perfect.'**

Demeter rolled her eyes. "That processed food is going to kill you one day."

Leo grinned, cheekily. "And I will enjoy it until it does."

' **He also ordered an espresso coffee. He could tell Chaos had left something out of the message, so figured he might need the extra caffeine. He then spent the remainder of the time making loads of different origami shapes out of the napkins on the table.**

 **After 2 hours and 45 minutes had passed, he had run out of paper napkins, the table was covered in them, and other people at the diner were sending him amused looks, so he paid and left. He reached the front of the diner just in time to catch the words that Ares spoke to Percy. "You're mourning people who aren't dead, kid. Neither your mom, or the thief you called friend are dead."**

 **Leo froze. The pretending to be dead plan had now hit the roof. Percy now knew he wasn't dead, that he had in fact been faking the statue, and it seemed like the entirety of Olympus thought of him as the thief. He had known that he would need that extra caffeine.**

 **Leo waited till the trio had gotten into the truck that Ares had provided, before turning back to the road, and walking up it, back to the train station. He was travelling a lot by train at the minute, but hey, it would get him to Los Angeles, so who was he to complain.**

 **The train journey was just as boring as the last one, and he didn't even have the trio to eavesdrop on. And when did he start to mentally refer to them as the trio. He was pretty sure that was what the three main Gary Potter characters were called. Or was it Harry potter. Meh, he had never read the book, and the characters weren't likely to try and kill him, so it didn't really what he called them.'**

Past Lou Ellen smirked. "You never know."

Leo paled. "Don't tell me their real."

"Once again, you never know."

"Oh, shoot."

' **By the time Leo arrived in Los Angeles, he was ready to blow something up from sheer boredom, He realised that Percy had to receive the three pearls from his dad before the trio came to the Lotus casino, so they probably wouldn't arrive till sometime tomorrow, but he entered the casino anyway. He now had almost a day to mull over what Ares had told Percy. Now that Percy knew he was alive, he had probably told Annabeth and Grover. While Percy might have forgotten the food on the train, Annabeth wouldn't, which meant that the trio would know he was following them. And those meant they would be on the lookout for him, which meant if he wasn't careful, they'd find him, and probably send him straight to Olympus. Yea! Return of the sarcasm!**

 **As he entered the Lotus Hotel, he was approached by a security guard, who gave him a card, and pointed him towards the gaming area, those games looked awesome! He was halfway there when he realised that the pull of the casino was working on him, he hadn't even realised that it was there. He could now understand how people could get stuck here for years. He shivered as he looked around, how long had these people been here?'**

"I met a woman from the 1800s," Annabeth stated.

"I met a hippy dude from the 70s," Percy added.

"I met a teenager that sailed here on the Mayflower," Grover said.

"You think we should free them?" Leo asked.

"We should, but I'm a little worried for their sanity when they find out that it's the 2000s," Percy said.

"Good point."

' **Leo turned away from the games area, to distract himself from the pull, and felt someone smack into him. He hit the ground with a thud. As he climbed to his feet, he noticed the group of teenagers who had surrounded him and the black haired boy who had crashed into him. Leo watched as the girl who seemed to be in charge of the group stepped forward, and addressed the boy.**

 **"Your sister isn't here to protect you now freak, it's about time you got what was coming to you." This girl reminded Leo of Drew, daughter of Aphrodite, and all around cow.'**

Drew glared.

' **He watched as the boy stood up, and then heard another of the six teenagers, "after all freak, it's only fair. You trashed our room, so we'll trash your face."**

 **Well, that was extreme, but seriously, six against one, hardly fair. Leo butted in. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but um, I'm new around here, is it mandatory to ignore bulling as everyone around here seems to be doing?"**

 **The Drew look alike gasped, all the makeup around her eyes making her look like a demented owl. "This isn't bulling..."**

 **"No, because six against one is the pinnacle of fair play. Well, I hope you don't mind me making it more even; although that's still kind of unfair... On you."**

 **Leo saw the kid that had bumped into him look at him incredulously at his last statement. Leo didn't blame him though, if someone had said that while he had been in the kids' position, he wouldn't have believed them either. Leo knew he would win though, after fighting giants, getting rid of these bullies would be child play, he remembered he had been sent back to his younger body. Literally child's play then.**

 **Leo was about to charge, when he remembered that these people were probably mortals, so going all out demigodishness on them... slight overkill. If they were mortal, well, a little bit of fire still couldn't hurt. He decided to go for a neat trick he had perfected about halfway through the giant war. According to Percy, it made him look intimidating, and if it could intimidate Percy, well the mortals would probably need a change of pants. He concentrated his powers and set his eyes on fire, looking round at the bullies, who looked freaking terrified!'**

"You can do that?" Beckendorf gaped and his father gaped right along with him. He never knew fire users could do that.

Leo turned to him and performed the trick.

"Ahh!" Beckendorf leaped behind Nyssa's chair before he blushed and stood. "You never saw that."

Leo smirked. "Whatever you say."

' **"So... Who's first?" The bullies scarpered, and Leo let the flames dissipate, with a slightly dark laugh. He may be a joker, but he freaking hated bullies. He always had, something about them just rubbed him in completely the wrong way.**

 **Leo spun round, to face the kid he had been standing in front of.**

 **"That was so cool! How did you do that eye thing? Can you teach me? What's your name?" Wow, hyper kid. Leo took a breath, and let it out slowly.**

 **"My name's Leo, and sorry, it's hereditary, it can't be taught. I would teach you if it were possible, but hey. What's your name kid?"**

 **"Nico!" Both the boys turned to look at the approaching girl. Leo took in her appearance. She looked about thirteen, and had long black hair, with a green cap on top. She looked a lot like the boy he had run into, though the boy, Nico, had slightly paler skin. Wait, Nico?**

 **It seemed like Leo had found a younger, more hyper Nico di Angelo. Which meant that this girl... Was Bianca. Leo had heard of Bianca, in one of the shifts he had shared with Nico, when they were trying to get Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus. Nico had mentioned his older sister, who had joined the hunters, and had left him, and then died on her first quest. Leo hadn't really liked how she was described, what sort of sister immediately left her sibling, just when they were needed.**

 **This Bianca though, he shouldn't judge her so harshly, she seemed to really care for her brother. That look of worry on her face surely couldn't be faked. Leo stepped back as she ran forward, and threw her arms around her brother. "I was so worried Nico, I heard Becky and her gang talking about finally getting you, they locked me in one of their rooms so I couldn't help you. I only just got out. I'm so glad you're alright. How did you get rid of them?"**

 **"It wasn't me Bianca, I had help." Leo saw Nico glance his way, a smile on his face. Leo grinned, "I'm sure you would have been able to take them down, eventually."**

 **Bianca swung her head round, not letting go of her brother, and sent him a thankful smile. "Thank-you, I was so afraid... Never mind. What's your name?"**

 **"Leo, you're Bianca right?"**

 **"Yes, it's nice to meet you, umm. Yes. Do you want to...Actually, I'm sure you have somewhere to be, and you don't want to get caught up with us, the others will never accept you then." Leo saw the happy look on Nico's face fall, it seemed like Nico wanted him to stick around.**

 **Leo frowned, it seemed like the group he saw earlier weren't the only ones who picked on the two di Angelo's. "I'm in the mood to become an outcast, where are we going?"**

 **He saw the disappointed look on Nico face turn into a broad grin, "Have you ever played Mythomagic Leo?"**

 **"No, but I'd sure like to learn."'**

"I like them," Percy said.

Leo smiled. "Trust me, future you did too. Nico was like your little brother."

"Who reads next?" Hestia asked.

"I will!" Hades exclaimed, shocking a few people and gods, before grabbing the book from his sister.

'Chapter seventeen: In which Leo is Found Out.'

* * *

 _Bye bye!_

 _By the way, there's a review button for a reason._


	19. Leo Is Found Out

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN.**

* * *

'Chapter seventeen: In which Leo is Found Out.'

' **Leo enjoyed hanging out with the Di Angelo's. He had been in the lotus hotel for a couple of days, at least he thought he had, he was well aware that time seemed to pass slower in the Lotus hotel, so he was being extra cautious. He wasn't that scared about being stuck, because he figured that Chaos would send him a message if he stayed too long. It slightly worried him though how much he was depending on Chaos now, if he was blocked off, then Leo would be in some pretty deep Schist.**

 **It was strange hanging out with younger Nico, he was used to a brooding, angst- ridden Nico, and this hyper kid was really different. Despite only being a year or two older, he felt like he had to protect the kid, and could sympathise with Bianca's concern. Bianca's death must have really affected Nico to turn him from this Mythomagic loving kid, into the gothic teenager Leo had known.**

 **Leo hadn't known Bianca in the future, due to the small problem of her being dead, he thought that she would get on really well with Hazel and Piper, she was quite quiet, but it was easy to see how much she cared for her brother. She had taken Leo under her wing too, a fact that he had almost protested, until he heard Nico talking to Bianca about how it made Leo part of the family. The feeling of being wanted had outweighed his dislike of being mothered, and he grudgingly accepted her superiority.**

 **He already felt like Nico and Bianca were family, and was regretting having to leave them in the Lotus Hotel, when he left. He knew that Nico's fatal flaw was holding grudges, and if he left without telling them, he was willing to bet that Nico would never forgive him. He didn't want to leave them, but he knew if he took them out of the Lotus hotel, their lives would be in terrible danger, as would his. Zeus was already mad about Poseidon having a kid, if he found out that Hades had two,'**

"Wait!" Percy suddenly shouted. "They're _your_ kids?"

Hades nodded. "Yes. They were born before the oath and placed in the hotel. I didn't intend for them to leave for a few more years."

"They should be dead," Zeus growled.

"What about your kids? Shouldn't they be dead as well?"

"Wait," Annabeth suddenly said. "Thalia is dead, and what do you mean by kids, as in plural?"

"Everything will be explained later," Leo interrupted.

The godly brothers leaned back in their thrones, thinking 'thank you'.

' **he would go flipping insane, and kill Nico and Bianca immediately. Then Hades would kill Leo for getting his kids killed. Hades already hated him, doing that would get him thrown in Tartarus for sure.**

 **He had received a message from Chaos that morning, telling him that Percy and co was about to arrive, and to be ready to leave soon. Leo didn't know when soon was, and when he asked he received a very cryptic reply- "I call all times soon." Sometimes Leo wished Chaos would just speak plainly; an I don't want to tell you, would have been much simpler.**

 **Leo snorted into the tacos he had been eating, the bully that Leo had defended Nico from, had just slipped over on the banana skin that Bianca had accidentally dropped right in front of her. The best thing about it was that Bianca looked so innocent, no one would assume she did it on purpose, no one could.**

 **Leo glee was cut off as he heard a familiar voice from the other side of the cafeteria. Percy Jackson had arrived at the Lotus Casino, in the same room as a now non disguised Leo. He should probably make himself scarce, Percy would no doubt recognise him should he look in Leo's direction. He rose from his seat, leaving his half eaten tacos in his place, and made a dash for the elevators, ignoring the concerned looks of Nico and Bianca .He didn't breath normally again till he was safe in his room, which just so happened to be next to the two rooms belonging to the di Angelo's. He had only been there about a minute when he heard Nico and Bianca burst in. Bianca turned to him with a worried look on her face, "what was that Leo? Is something wrong?"**

 **Leo was torn between brushing it off, or actually telling them the truth, he wasn't going to lie to them, he didn't lie to his family, and in the short period of time he had been here, that was what the di Angelo's had become. He looked at them seriously, if he didn't tell them, and just left, then when he next saw them, they would be mad at him. But if he told them the truth, not all the truth, but... Well, where was the harm in telling them a little?**

 **"Look, some very important people think I stole something, I haven't, but they won't listen, so I'm on the run. I've been running from long island, but there's someone downstairs who knows them, I recognise his voice, he'll try to take me to them. I'm gonna have to leave guys. I'm sorry."**

 **Nico looked distraught at the last statement, but Leo had to go, despite the sorrow he felt at leaving them, he wouldn't get them killed, as they surely would be if they left the Lotus now. This was their sanctuary, this place protected them.'**

Hades tried to refrain from smiling, if only slightly. It was good to know that somebody cared for his kids and didn't just think of them as dangerous mistakes. Branded as evil from birth. That Leo Valdez was something, alright.

' **"We'll come with you then."**

 **"No!" Both of them jumped at the desperation in Leo's voice. "No, guys you can't, they want me for questioning, but they would kill whoever was with me. Sister I can't get you killed, I'd never forgive myself. Please, stay here, you're safe here. "**

 **Leo looked at Nico, who had tears running down his face, and when he spoke he sounded five years younger that he actually was. "Don't leave L-Leo. I don't w- want you to g-go...Who will p-play mytho –magic with m-me? Please L-Leo don't l-leave me."**

 **Leo felt his heart clench, in the few days he had been here, he saw Nico as his little brother, to be protected at all costs. Hurting Nico like this was killing him. But killing his heart was better than killing them. He moved closer, and wrapped Nico in a hug. "You'll see me again little bro, after I'm cleared I'll find you. I promise Nico." He looked up at Bianca as he spoke again. "I will find you, wherever you go, I won't rest till we're together again. Even if you move to Australia I will find you."**

 **Ten minutes later Leo was standing in the lobby, he had made Bianca promise to keep her and Nico upstairs, she had tried to get him to change his mind, but he knew she would keep her promise, Leo figured that he would have to wait for the trio outside the hotel, and then follow them when they left. At least that was the plan, until he heard a shout behind him, and footsteps running in his direction, and turned to see Percy running toward him, a disbelieving look etched on his face.**

 **Leo ran, out of the door, and down the road, it was almost night, and he had no idea what day it was, but he ran down the road, his heart pumping. Percy had seen him, and knew it was him. He had to leave, to get away. He ran till he had a stitch, and could no longer hear the footsteps behind him. He came to a halt, gasping, that was a close call.**

 **Then Leo felt a knife at his throat, and heard Annabeth's voice, "caught you."'**

Several people paled; Annabeth looked down in shame; and Percy and Leo bit their lips, knowing the break down that was approaching.

'I'll read," Hephaestus offered, taking the book.

'Chapter eighteen: In which Leo Falls Apart.'

* * *

 _REVIEW!_


	20. The Uncharacteristic Break Down

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN.**

* * *

'Chapter eighteen: In which Leo Falls Apart.'

' **This was officially one of the worst days of Leo's life. He had no way to defend himself, neither mentally or physically. He failed to see how Chaos could possibly get him out of this situation. He just had to hope that Percy still believed in his innocence, or at least let him explain. Leo was working really hard to prevent himself flaming on, as he tended to do so when he was trapped and it wouldn't help him any to turn Annabeth to cinders.**

 **Leo hung his head, and looked at the dark pavement. With the knife at his throat, and his hands held painfully behind his back, he felt completely helpless, his instinct to run was screaming at him, to flame on and get out of there! . But he wouldn't let himself, he wouldn't hurt Annabeth, he wouldn't lose control, he couldn't... Not again.**

 **Leo looked to see Grover half hidden in the shadows from the streetlamp, and Percy standing just in front of the lamp, he couldn't see the expression on his face, and it made him more nervous. He took a moment to appreciate the cliché, bad guy held in shadows by good guy's assistant, while good guy steps out of light. Only problem was, Leo wasn't a bad guy.**

 **The silence was deafening, and Leo just wanted someone to speak, the tense air was killing him. He broke out into a sweat. Barely hearing the approaching footsteps, Leo looked up to see Percy in front of him, his face still hidden in shadows. He still wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't he saying anything?**

 **"Leo, did you take the bolt?" Percy's voice was hard and unyielding, reminding Leo of how the older Percy after Leo's possession and consequent attack on new Rome. But beyond the coldness he could hear the raw hurt, Percy pleading for him to be innocent, to still be the Leo he had known. It made him feel all the more guilty.**

 **But before he could answer, he felt Annabeth's knife press tighter against his throat, so tight that he felt a trickle of blood run down his neck, and had to clench his fist to stop himself from flaming on. He heard her speaking to Percy, "why are you even asking him? We know he did it, even the gods told us so."**

 **Leo gasped for air at the same time as breathing in to stop himself becoming headless Leo. He felt spots in front of his eyes, and heard Grover's panicked warning, "Annabeth, you're killing him!"**

 **The knife eased up, and Leo fell to his knees gasping for air, and seeing shadows pressing in on him. He swiped his hand shakily across his throat, and saw the crimson blood stain his hand, a twinge of pain emitting from the cut. He heard the worried tones of Percy, and Annabeth's defensive talk, but could not pick out any words, as he felt darkness rise and claim him.'**

"Annabeth!" Beckendorf shouted.

"Don't worry, Beckendorf," Leo said. "I understand why she did. If you thought I was a traitor to Olympus, you would've done the same thing."

 **'Leo awoke with his hands tied behind a lamppost, and the taste of ambrosia in his mouth. He spent a minute trying to figure out where he was, until the memories came rushing back. The run from the Lotus Hotel; the chase; the capture; and Annabeth's overly zealous knife work.**

 **He let out a groan as he opened his eyes, and saw Percy once again in front of him. Now Leo could see the expression on his face, a mix of worry, suspicion and betrayal. He didn't even know that mix was possible. Leo opened his mouth to talk, and then realised that when he tried to make a sound, his throat felt like it was ripping apart, and maybe that cut had done more damage than he thought it had.**

 **Leo's vision broadened till he could see a nervous Grover and an anxious Annabeth on either side of Percy. "Leo, you're awake." If Leo had been in a more joking mood, he would have come up with a retort, something like 'is it state the obvious day?' But the guilt inside of him was eating him up, starting with his humour.**

 **Leo gasped, and ignoring the pain in his throat, tried to talk. What came out was a mangled whisper, barely discernible. "Percy, I swear on the Styx, I didn't take the bolt. I swear." He didn't know if Percy could hear him, but he could feel the tears running down his face. "I didn't want to trick you Percy, I shouldn't have run, but I couldn't help it, I've always run, and I couldn't stop myself. But I didn't steal the bolt, I swear I didn't. But after I slipped with the fury, I knew that the gods would think I was the thief, and if the attention was on me, then it was off you, and..."'**

Hephaestus and his children glanced worridly at Leo, followed by the Stoll brothers. Leo sounded almost hysterical.

' **"Leo..."**

 **"...And I'm sorry Percy, I shouldn't of run, and I'm sorry, and I know you won't want to be my friend anymore and...**

 **"Leo!"**

 **"...And I know I deserve it. But please don't hate me Percy, please don't hate me."**

 **The tears were full on making waterfalls on Leo's face now, his eyes slammed shut, and if felt like he was shattering into a million pieces. He was waiting for Percy to turn around and walk away, to shout his hatred over his shoulder and leave Leo there for the first monster that came along. Leo felt worse than he ever had in his life, worse than when his mom died, and that only added to the bucket load of guilt he was feeling.'**

"Leo... I wouldn't do that to anyone, much less you," Percy whispered. He frowned when Leo didn't respond.

' **Losing Percy would be like losing a part of himself. Over the time he had spend in the past, his presence had help keep Leo sane, reminded him what he was here for. Been his brother, and to lose that would near kill him. But he knew he deserved it, why wouldn't Percy hate him after everything that he had put him through. He'd hate himself. He did hate himself.'**

Percy put his hand on Leo's shoulder while exchanging a glance with Grover. Maybe the war had affected Leo more than they thought.

 **'Leo's legs gave out, and he began to sink to the floor, but felt someone catch him on the way down, he heard a repeated voice echoing in his head, a kind voice, Leo lent away, he didn't deserve kindness, not after what he'd done to his best mate.**

". **..Leo, I don't hate you, I don't hate you Leo, I'll never hate you Leo. Never." That was Percy's voice, Percy didn't hate him? But he should, why didn't he hate him? Leo heard Percy continue, repeating the same words over and over, in that kind voice that Leo didn't think he deserved, but he couldn't help lean into Percy's warm kindness anyway. Leo couldn't think anymore, he was completely spent, the day's events had driven him past exhaustion, and he blacked out in Percy's arms**.'

The entire room watched as Percy hugged an unexpecting Leo.

No words were exchanged.

There was nothing left to say.

* * *

 _Next chapter is one of my favorites... Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read it. Goodbye until tomorrow!_


	21. Watching A Friend Fall Apart

_Chapter 21!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

Grover picked up the book and frowned as he read the name of the chapter. "Additional chapter: In which Percy watches Leo Fall Apart."

 **'Percy, Annabeth and Grover had just finished lunch at the cafeteria, and were making their way back to the games arcade, when Percy glanced across the lobby area, and saw a very familiar face. Disbelief grew inside of him as he turned away from the others, and started running in the direction of the boy that looked exactly like Leo. He ignored the exclamations of Grover and Annabeth as he got closer to him. That was Leo!**

 **He saw Leo glance at him, and the horror across his face, before he swerved round and legged it out of the door. By the look on Grover's face, he had seen him as well, and Annabeth seemed to be noticing that he fit their description of Leo and the statue in auntie M's. They chased him out the door, and down the road, ignoring the shouts and grumbles of pedestrians.**

 **Annabeth caught up with him, and said, "I'm going to put on my cap, and go and catch him." Percy nodded, but kept on running, albeit at a slightly slower pace, man Leo could sure run fast. He was sure that it was Leo now, he had seen Leo run back at Nancy, and his run was exactly the same as this boy. Percy realised he was falling behind, and speed up slightly. He'd be sent to the fields of punishment before he let Leo get away again.**

 **Percy watched as Leo stopped in front of an empty alleyway, and got his breath back. Or a not so empty alleyway... He saw Annabeth remove her Yankee's cap, and put her knife to Leos' throat. Leo went completely still, and even from how far away Percy was, he could see Leo shaking. Why would Leo be shaking? Either he was cold, which Percy doubted, as it was the middle of the summer, or... Or he really had taken the bolt, and was lying.**

 **He wouldn't believe that of Leo! He couldn't... Leo was his best friend. Was. Percy didn't know what to do now. The part of him that was loyal to Olympus and his father said to kill Leo, or at least drag him in chains to the gods, but Leo had helped him more than the gods had ever done.'**

Percy's father looked down at that.

 **'Leo stood up for him, and helped him all the time. Even when Percy knew he was older, Leo insisted on taking care of him, like an older brother. Family, Leo was family, and he wouldn't let Leo die, unless his guilt was proven beyond doubt.**

 **That being said, he would have to find out whether Leo was guilty, but short of asking him, Percy had no idea how. Well, there goes nothing "Leo, did you steal the bolt?" Percy was trying to sound cold, emotionless even; don't let him know you're hurting. But he could hear the pleading in his voice, almost begging Leo to prove it wasn't him, and it made him sound weak. He couldn't afford to be weak. Not here, not in front of the boy he considered a brother, who was accused of the same crime he himself was.**

 **He saw Leo begin to open his mouth, looking up from the floor, till he was interrupted by Annabeth. ""Why are you even asking him? We know he did it, even the gods told us so." Percy stepped closer to where Annabeth was holding Leo at knife point, out of the light of the street lamp. Leo was looking at the floor, trembling, his breathing coming in short gasps. He looked terrible, and this was coming from the boy who had fought Echidna. He had blood across his neck... Wait, blood!'**

Beckendorf glared at Annabeth, who guiltily stared at her lap.

' **"Annabeth, you're killing him!" Grover's voice shocked Annabeth into relaxing her grip on Leo, and he fell to the floor, gasping. Percy ran to his side, and knelt down, feeling Leo's pulse, it was faint and seemed to be getting weaker. Alarmed, Percy reached into his backpack and pulled out some ambrosia left, feeding it to him quickly. He watched as Leo's breathing became more regular, and let out a relieved sigh. What had Annabeth been thinking?**

 **Percy turned around with a scowl on his face, ready to yell at Annabeth, only to see her hunched up on the floor, her knife fallen out of her grip, looking like she was about to cry. "I almost killed him, almost killed someone, a demigod- like me. What was I thinking? What if he was innocent and I had killed him? I... I... That's not how a daughter of Athena should act."'**

Clarrise sat up straighter. Why the Hades was this Hephaestus kid affecting everyone so much? Annabeth never broke down like that.

 **'Percy sighed, why was he beginning to feel like the only sane person right now? He went and sat next to Annabeth, putting his arms around her. "Come on wise girl, even you can't be perfect, just apologise when he wakes up yeah. It's ok, he's not dead." He sat in silence as Annabeth turned to him, and began to cry into his chest. He felt decidedly uncomfortable at that. A girl was crying on him for Poseidon's sake, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt his friend by pulling away.'**

Leo smirked. "No, it's because you like her."

"Of course I do, she's my friend," Percy deadpanned, ignoring the true meaning of Leo's words.

Leo leant over, motioned to the Stolls and Grover, who were rolling their eyes at Percy's denial, and then, he gestured to the Aphrodite kids. The four smiling demigods nodded.

 **'Eventually Annabeth's sobs slowed, and stopped, and she emerged from his hug, with her face turning scarlet. "This never happened seaweed brain."**

 **"Sure."**

 **Annabeth looked at him suspiciously, red rimmed eyes searching him for something. Seeming to find what they were looking for, Annabeth instead moved over to Leo, and began dragging him to a nearby lamppost. Percy stumbled to his feet, a question on his lips, which was answered before he even spoke it.**

 **"I'm tying him to the lamppost, so that if he wakes up when we're not looking he can't run off, we still don't know if he's guilty or not."**

 **Percy frowned at that, at moved over to her. "If he were guilty he would've flamed on while you were holding him, and gotten away like that. He didn't, he didn't want to hurt you."**

 **She mumbled something that Percy couldn't hear, and then asked... "Flamed on?"**

 **"Set himself on fire."**

 **"Oh, and you conveniently forgot to tell me he could do that!" Annabeth stormed off to talk to Grover, and Percy went and stood in front of Leo, seeing his eyes flickering, then opened. "Leo, you're awake." Oh, state the obvious much, thought Percy, if Leo doesn't make a joke out of this, I'm a satyr. However, no joke was forthcoming from the barely conscious boy, and that worried Percy, Leo always had time for jokes.**

 **He lent forward, and heard Leo muttering, "...On the Styx, I didn't take the bolt, I swear!" Percy heard thunder in the distance, and couldn't stop the joy that leapt up in him. His brother was innocent; Leo didn't steal the bolt... He knew it!**

 **But Leo was still talking, and his tone of voice was freaking Percy out. Leo, to put it bluntly, sounded dead. All humour had drained from his voice, all Leo-ness had gone, and it made him more worried than ever. What if the cut was too deep, horror grew in Percy's heart. What if Leo was dying?'**

The Hephaestus kids exchanged glances. It was just like Leo's first night at camp when they'd caught a glimpse of a broken boy that had seen too much.

 **'Percy leant further forward, fear and sorrow filling his brain, he barely registered Leo words. "... I knew the gods would think it was me, and if the attention was on me, then it was off you, and..." Percy's mind went blank, Leo had run, to make it seem like he was guilty, to protect him! And Percy had thought he was a coward. Self disgust rocketed through him, how could he have thought that?**

 **" Leo..." But it didn't seem that Leo was listening, his mumbles continued.**

 **"...I know you don't want to be my friend anymore..."**

 **"Leo"**

 **..."Please don't hate me..." Alarm rushed through Percy, joining the mix of emotion that was making his stomach queasy. This was so wrong, Leo never fell apart like this, it was wrong, it shouldn't be happening, not Leo. And then Percy felt the harsh taste of guilt on his tongue. He had done this to Leo, what sort of a friend was he? How did Leo think that Percy hated him, he could never hate him, never.**

 **Leo fell forward, and Percy reached out reached forward, and caught him, muttering back. "...Leo, I don't hate you, I don't hate you Leo, I'll never hate you Leo. Never." He wrapped his arms around the fallen form of Leo Valdez, and only when Leo was calm and quiet in his hold, did he let his own tears fall.**

* * *

 _I know there isn't much dialogue in this chapter, but I love the chapter because you get a glimpse of Leo from an outside perspective._

 _More chapters to come!_


	22. Getting Demands

_Chapter veintidós. (Chapter 22)_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN_**

* * *

Grover handed the book to Annabeth since she was sitting beside him, and she opened it to read.

'Chapter nineteen: In which Leo gets a demand.'

 **'When Leo woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and he was laying flat on the pavement. He sat up with a groan, he felt like he had run a marathon, and then ran into a mad axe man at the finish line. Well, if Annabeth was a man axe man...**

 **He managed to sit up, and looked around the alleyway, there were two others there. Why had they stayed? They were on a quest, there was no point wasting time on him.'**

"Well, one, you're our friend, and two, we needed to make sure you didn't die or something if we left, and three, we wanted an explanation," Grover answered.

 **'They should be heading to the underworld, and where was Annabeth? On the plus side them sleeping gave him a good chance of getting away, he still didn't know if they believed him, and he didn't want to stick around after falling apart on Percy. Man, he was so embarrassed, although it had felt good to get it out. Still, they all probably thought of him as a cry-baby now.'**

"We'd never think that," Percy said.

Leo smiled. "I know, but remember, you're different than the Percy I knew. He and I didn't even trust each other; we most certainly weren't friends.'

 **'Leo stood up, and removed the jacket that had been covering his legs, Percy's jacket. Glancing over he saw Percy shivering slightly, he walked over, and put Percy's jacket over him, and after a minute of thought, lit a fire by him and Grover to keep them warm. He then made his way to the top of the alleyway, and was just about to leave, when he heard a voice behind him, and a hand on his arm.**

 **"Going somewhere?" So that was where Annabeth had got to.**

 **"No knife this time?"**

 **"Answering a question with a question is seen as rude."**

 **"Is it?" Leo heard a giggle from behind him, and Annabeth pulled him back into the alley, and then stood in front of him. He saw the guilt in her eyes when she looked at the cut on his neck, he wondered if it would scar, that would be awkward. He could imagine it now.**

 **"Hey Leo, which monster gave you that scar?"**

 **"Annabeth, deadly when mad"'**

"Travis and Connor asked me," Leo laughed. "That had been an awkward conversation."

"Almost as much as the one about his arm," Travis said and Connor nodded.

 **He saw her open her mouth to apologise.**

 **"Um, I... I'm sorry for, you know... That." He watched as she fiddled with her ponytail, this was probably the most nervous he had ever seen her. It felt weird to see Annabeth like this. She was always the strong one who knew what to do. It was something to separate the Annabeth he had knows from this one. Unless the future Annabeth had insecurities like this, and just hid them.**

 **"It's fine Annie, don't sweat it." He wondered if she would notice...'**

"Don't call me Annie!"

' **"Thanks Leo, but if you call me Annie again, that knife cut won't be the only one I give you."**

 **Ok then, even this Annabeth hated that name; future Annabeth had said more or less the same thing. It seemed Annabeth's hatred of people shortening her name spanned all time. Leo looked around for the backpack he had with his food and tent in, he wondered if the trio had looked inside it. He saw it by the lamppost he had been tied to last night.**

 **He retrieved it, and went and sat by the fire, beckoning Annabeth to join him. "Hungry?"**

 **"You telling me you have food in there?"**

 **"Now who's answering a question with a question, but yes. Didn't you guys look through it?"**

 **"Percy wouldn't let us, said we should respect your privacy, since we had already tied you up and all."**

 **Leo nodded, "remind me to thank him" and began withdrawing ingredients, sure he could have bought readymade stuff, but nothing tasted as good as homemade tacos. Especially his home made tacos, and no he wasn't being vain at all, whatever gave you that idea. His tacos were the best; everyone he had ever made them for had said so.'**

"They are delicious," Future Lou Ellen agreed while the other Futures nodded.

"Without a doubt," Percy said while Grover bleated in agreement.

"Where'd you learn to cook like that?" Annabeth asked.

Leo smiled. "Just picked it up, I guess."

 **'He made sure to make some vegetable tacos, and then withdrew the mini-freezer he had bought, and took the beef out from inside it, cooking it over the fire. He wasn't afraid of anyone seeing the fire, or the smoke, he may be terrible at convincing people with the mist, but he could use it to hide things, in this case, a cooking session.**

 **"Hey Annabeth, why are you being nice today? Yesterday you were all like, 'he's the thief, kill him'."**

 **"You swore on the Styx that you weren't the thief, and you're still alive, that means you can't have stolen the bolt, so I misjudged you, and jumped to conclusions. That is unacceptable for a daughter of Athena. I'm trying to prove to you I'm not always like that."**

 **"Just most of the time?"**

 **"Oh. Shut up." Then she looked away from him and at the fire, peering closely at it. "How did you make that fire, nothing's burning. You can't have fire without fuel, it goes against the fire triangle, it's impossible!"**

 **"Not for me."**

 **By the time the beef was cooked, Leo and Annabeth had been talking a while, and he was starting to think that this Annabeth wasn't so bad, although she was still a bit harsher that the girl Leo had known in the future. It was probably Percy's influence that changed her. Leo just finished the last taco, and stuck it on the pile with the rest of them, he had been sure to make a vegetarian pile for Grover.**

 **Leo opened his backpack again, and withdrew five bottles of water, and opened one, pouring half of it on Percy's head. Percy leapt up, and uncapped riptide, swinging it around to point at Leo.**

 **"Don't kill me."**

 **Percy looked at him in shock, and then at the bottle in his hand. "Man, what the Hades was that for?" He glared at Grover, who had woken up during the commotion, and was outright laughing at him.**

 **"It's breakfast time, I made tacos, and yes, there are some vegetable ones Grover."**

 **Percy sat down again, and reached for a taco, hesitantly chewing a corner. "This is awesome Leo! Where did you learn to cook?"**

 **"Here, there, just picked it up."**

 **The four ate through the pile of tacos in no time, all hungry after the events of the previous day. Leo was starting to get comfortable, why was he afraid of being found out, this wasn't so bad, then Percy started asking questions.**

 **"Leo, you don't have to answer, but I was kind of curious, how did you get to the Lotus casino? I mean, last I saw you, you were in medusa's garden, pretending to be stone."**

 **Ah, how was he supposed to answer that? He didn't want to lie anymore, but he was afraid of what they would say to him following them. "Actually Percy, the last time you saw me was the top of the arch."**

 **"You were that demigod. You were the one who gave us that food, and the one eavesdropping at the car wash. You've been following us."**

 **"Yeah, I didn't want you to get hurt. You'd only just discovered that you were a half blood, and they send you out on what could be considered a suicide quest. I was worried, so followed you." Leo picked at his shoe, he didn't think Percy would leave, but he could get really annoyed at him anytime soon. Leo though if Percy was going to punch him, it might reopen his neck wound.**

 **"You weren't at camp though..."**

 **Leo snorted, "Like that would be a good idea for me, half the gods think I took the bolt, half you, but I don't have a super dad protecting me. Sure Hephaestus would do all he could, but the gods would kill me if I set foot there. I was waiting outside."**

 **Leo had raised his hands up during his mini speech, and one of his long sleeves had slipped down his arm, enough for Annabeth to notice the start of the slashes that the fury had given him. She grabbed his wrist, and rolled it the rest of the way down, "Leo, what happened to you?"**

 **"No biggie, just a swipe from a fury, well, three swipes, I'm ok." Judging by the look on Percy's face, he didn't think that Leo was Ok.**

 **"You mean the fury that was trying to kill me. Leo, that fury had poison on its claws, really painful poison, it should have killed you!"**

 **"Yeah, if I was anyone but me, then it would have killed me, but since I am me, it didn't work."**

 **Annabeth frowned at him "anyone but you? You're going to have to explain that."**

 **Leo sighed, and looked at the pavement, only Annabeth, and maybe Grover would understand the rarity of what he was about to say. "I'm a fire user, and the poison was meant to burn you up from the inside. But I can't burn, so it didn't affect me. Although, the scars from a fury's claws never go away, so... Do you think they make me look tough?"**

 **Percy snorted, "Only you Leo. You've been attacked by a fury, are the only demigod that that poison doesn't effect, escaped death by a breath, and are only worried if the scars make you look tough or not? Only you."**

 **Leo looked at Grover, who up until now had been very quiet. "Something wrong G-man?"**

 **Grover looked at him, "I didn't believe you! I should have trusted you, but I thought you were the thief. I betrayed you, I'm a horrible friend."**

 **Leo smiled. "No you're not. You knew me for less than a year, and I was acting suspiciously, you just jumped to the logical conclusion. The wrong one, but I can't blame you for that; it's not your fault anyway. Chiron though, I will be having words with."**

 **"Should we warn him to run?"**

 **"Oh, ha-ha, don't you have a quest to be on?"**

 **Percy jumped up, and handed Leo his rucksack. "No, we have a quest to be on."**

 **"What! No, no, no, no, no and no. I don't think you understand Percy, I can't go with you. The first god that sees me will send me straight to Tartarus, I'm not kidding. Me being with you will put your whole quest in danger. Besides, you're going to the underworld, Hades hates me. He thinks I'm the one who took the bolt, and his helm. He'll kill me as soon as I enter his domain."**

 **"Guys" Grover whimpered, "Behind you."**

 **Leo whirled around, catching sight of all three furies, with sinister snarls on their faces. It seemed like Hades had discovered his continued existence. "Run guys; continue with your quest, I'll hold them of." Leo mentally snorted, hold them off? No, he was going to go with them. He had checked his notebook before he got up that morning. Five words.**

 **-Leo, go with the furies.-'**

"You planned that?" Percy complained. "Do you have any idea how worried we were for you?"

"Sorry!"

 **'He didn't know what Chaos was thinking, but he trusted the guy. So, it looked like he would take a direct route to the underworld. Via fury.**

 **"Annabeth, make them go!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Annabeth drag Percy away, and all three leave the alleyway. The furies approached, the one in the middle, Mrs Dodds, snarling at him. "You will come with us demigod. Lord Hades demands your presence."'**

"Who reads next?" Annabeth asked.

"I will," Katie volunteered.

'Chapter twenty one: In which Leo Meets Nico's Dad.'

* * *

 _That's that. I know, there is almost no dialogue in this story, but the dialogue in the sequel will hopefully make up for it._


	23. Don't Pay The Ferry Man

_Chapter 23!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"In Which Leo Meet's Nico's Dad," Katie read.

 **"Sure I'll come, but demands? I mean, can't he request, or ask for my presence. Got to be demand?" He watched the unmoving faces of the furies. "Ok, tough crowd."**

 **"Cease your joking demigod, and prepare for your life to end. Lord Hades will not be merciful."**

 **Leo gave a mental snort, when was Lord Hades ever merciful?"**

Hades rolled his eyes. "If I weren't merciful, you'd be a stain on the floor right about now."

Travis and Connor snickered as Leo shifted his chair away from the god of the dead.

 **'He shouldered his backpack, and turned toward the three furies with a smile on his face, which seemed to confuse them, Leo wondered if anyone had ever smiled at them before. Probably not. He gave a yelp, (which he would later deny giving) as Mrs Dodds swooped forward, and sunk her talons deep into Leo's shoulders, cutting through his flesh, well, that didn't bode well.**

 **He wandered if Hades had told them to bring him alive or dead. Judging by the wounds in his shoulders, he hadn't particularly cared about the alive part... Leo wondered if he planned to keep Leo as a skeleton guard. He had heard from Nico that Hades tended to do that to people he considered his enemies.'**

A shiver spread through the room while Hades smirked.

 **'Leo watched the city fly by underneath him, he wondered what the mortals would see through the mist, giant pelicans, perhaps hand gliders... he wondered if they just wouldn't look up, or would immediately dismiss it as imagination. The three furies, with a unfortunate Leo in tow dropped into a road that Leo figured was the entrance to the underworld, DOA recording studios. He reckoned that the Dead On Arrival bit was hidden by the mist. Then again, this was Los Angeles.'**

"True that," Jake agreed. "I've only been there once, but it was a pretty weird place. Cool, but weird."

"And a little scary," A child of Apollo added.

"That, too."

Leo laughed. "You haven't seen nothing until you've walked the streets of Detroit. That place is _insane_!"

Some people laughed, but a few- including Beckendorf, Nyssa, Annabeth, and a few others- wondered why Leo had been in Detroit in the first place.

 **'The trio of demon grandmothers with wings pulled him through the doors, and past Charon, who, once he saw who Leo was with, backed off. Leo saw pity in Charon's eyes directed at him, if that old creep was feeling sympathetic, Leo couldn't wait to find out what Hades had in store for him. Oh, that's where his sarcasm had gone. He'd thought it had been weirdly quiet lately.'**

Hermes and Apollo anickered.

"Don't quiet the powerful voice of sarcasm!" Apollo laughed. "It's what keeps you alive."

"Or gets you killed," Artemis added.

"It's 50/50."

"That are much better plans than that, like-"

Katie started reading before the gods got into a whole debate that could last for centuries or more.

 **"As he passed Charons desk, he slipped a dozen drachmas out of his pocket, and a note that said –Let the kids in-, Leo had seen the young, scared children who had died, some of which were probably half-bloods. He could've sworn one looked like Benny, but before he could turn to get a closer look, the furies had grabbed him again.**

 **Leo was pushed onto Charon's ferry as the furies circled above it, watching. The ferry was empty, until Charon came along with the youngest of the kids, and twelve drachmas clenched in his fist. He looked at Leo and chuckled darkly, making the kids edge away from him, and toward Leo. He was glad to see that the one he thought looked like Benny was just a passing similarity. He was taller that Benny, and had different color hair.**

 **"So" Charon's voice sent shivers down Leo's spine, and many of the four year olds began to whimper. "What did you do to his majesty to have him sent all three of the hags after you?" Leo snorted. It seemed that there wasn't any love lost between the furies and the underworlds ferryman.**

 **"I'm sure that's classified information. I'd hate to extend my visit down here by telling you that." Leo looked over the river Styx; Percy had to swim in this? It was disgusting!**

 **It was also Charons turn to snort. "Visit. Hate to break it to you. But if you come down here alive, you usually don't stay it for terribly long. I'm afraid this is a one way trip." Leo smiled, and resumed staring across the grey expanse of the underworlds river, wondering what all the rubbish was that was in it. Those looked like high school diplomas that like a ripped wedding dress. All great things that had never happened. Dreams thrown away... He looked closer, and saw an old picture, burnt at one corner. A woman, and a little boy, both with curly hair. And a tool bench in the background. A picture he hadn't seen for years, a picture that hung in his mother's workshop.**

 **Before he realised how far he had lent out, he felt a bony hand pull him back. "If you fall in there, you're never getting out, it'll destroy your soul. Bad idea, leaning out of the boat."**

 **Leo nodded, his smile still fixed on his face, his fake happiness still on show. He had learned how to fake everything. He could laugh for hours, while crying inside. He was Leo Valdez, joker, so he never had chance to cry. That time yesterday, in Percy's hug, had been the first time he had cried since his mom's death. The first time in so many years he'd lost count. It was time to bring humour to the underworld, Valdez style. Leo started singing under his breath... "I'm on the highway to hell..." Charon snorted again.**

 **"River, not highway..."**

 **Leo stuck out his tongue, and changed song, a wicked glint coming into his eye, "Don't pay the ferryman, don't even fix a price, and don't pay the ferryman, until he gets you to the other side. Don't pay the ferryman..."'**

Hades chuckled, startling a few people. "I like you, boy. Ticking off Charon."

Poseidon, feeling extra daring, reached over and felt his brother's forehead.

"Poseidon?"

"Yes?"

"May I ask what in our names are you doing?"

"Just making sure you're not ill."

People weren't sure whether to snicker or run like hell from the irritated god of death. Luckily, they didn't have to decide; Katie started reading.

' **"Ok, Fine, sing whatever, but that song is not amusing boy."**

 **"We all live in a yellow submarine**

 **Didn't like the color so we painted it green**

 **Green made us sick, so we painted it red**

 **Red wasn't water proof, so now we're all dead.**

 **Huh, No reaction. Those were no fun, Ok then, let's try...**

 **"I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves..."**

 **"Argh!"**

 **The boat groaned to a halt on the colourless sand of the Styx's far shore, the children all leaving to be judged, until only Leo and Charon remained. Charon almost pushed him out of the boat. Leo felt the furies swipe down to pick him up, and started preparing to be grabbed again. Though the poison had no effect on him, the cuts hurt like Hades. Pardon the expression.**

 **Leo kept singing as they flew over the fields of punishment. Leo couldn't help but think that they went the long way round. Perhaps the furies took delight in showing him the tortures that he would soon experience. Oh, who was he kidding, perhaps? Of course they did. Though it could be revenge for the song. Or both.**

 **Leo was dropped off at the front gate of the palace, literally dropped. He landed on all fours, and called up to the furies "That was uncalled for. Just because I know a song that will get on your nerves..." And Leo pushed the gates open and walked in still singing.'**

"Leo," Hephaestus said after a moment. "You're a special boy, aren't you?"

"Oh, special doesn't even begin to describe me. But the campers have a book on words that I am if you want to look at that."

Apollo volunteered to read, which surprised his sister so much, she couldn't hide her shock.

"Chapter 21: In which Leo criticizes the Floor. Or In Which Leo's Gregarious Personality Lands him in Hot Water."

* * *

 _Ta da! Bye!_


	24. Criticizing A Floor and Fighting Shadows

_Chapter 24!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

 ** _WARNINGS: SOME LANGUAGE_**

* * *

"In Which Leo Criticizes a Floor. Or in Which Leo's Gregarious Personality Lands Him in Hot Water."

 **Before Leo had gone too far, he heard skeletons walking his way, the jangling of their body giving them away. Note to self, thought Leo, when Nico starts using his powers, remind him to never send skeletons on stealth missions, he'll get caught.'**

Hades laughed. "They're more for flare than anything else."

The gods all shifted away; most of them had never heard Hades genuinely laugh before. Creepy chuckle, yes, but laugh? No.

What is the son of Hephaestus doing to us? Zeus wondered.

 **'By the time the skeletons had actually reached the corner where he was, he had figured out how many there were, and how easy it would be to take them out.**

 **But he figured that taking them out would result in Hades hating him more than he already did, and he wasn't particularly happy with Leo at the minute. Though Leo was sure that Chaos would help him out, and stop Hades from killing him, he still figured that Hades could make life very difficult for him. In the "I'm going to kill everyone you care about", way.'**

Hades rolled his eyes before he froze to stare at the ceiling for a moment.

"Okay, he has a point," he finally admitted.

 **'Leo grinned at the skeletons as they rounded the corner, which seemed to confuse them slightly, and asked. "I don't suppose you could direct me to the throne room? I seem to have forgotten to order a guide." The skeletons seemed to exchange glances, as if asking each other whether he was insane or not,'**

"Definitely," the campers chorused.

"But in a good way," Leo said.

"No, in the 'you're going to get yourself killed someday' kind of way," Beckendorf corrected.

"Probably," Leo agreed. "But still, my insanity has gotten me out of a lot of difficult situations."

' **-which Leo found somewhat insulting. The walking skeletons really couldn't point the finger at unusual people.'**

"Good point," Travis said.

 **'The smallest one on the right of the group of five lifted a bony arm, and pointed the way they had come, shaking at the action. Leo wondered how much of a bad mood Lord Hades was in, if that was the reaction of his servants. For the first time, Leo began to be fearful for his life.'**

"The first time?" Nyssa asked.

"If you pretend your fear doesn't exist, it's easier to get rid of it and harder to give into," Leo said.

"Leo," Connor said, his jaw almost touching the floor. "You just said something wise."

"Aw, shush it."

 **'Leo fixed a smile on his face, and walked past the group of skeletons, giving the one who had pointed a nod, "thank-you." As he set off down the hall, he heard the five skeletons fall into step behind him. He hoped that Lord Hades wouldn't blast him the minute he walked through the door, but he figured Lady Nike didn't like him that much. Most of his conversations in this timeline followed the script of, dodge first, be interrogated later. (Or get knifed first, and cry later) but he was trying to forget that one.'**

"Me, too," Percy agreed.

"Amen, brother," Leo said, high fiving him.

 **'Maybe Lord Hades would listen though; he was ignored often enough to know what it felt like, though he had heard from the future Nico that he and his father acted the same when angry. They talked quietly when they were mildly annoyed, shouted when they were irritated, but it was when they whispered that you started running. It was rumoured that Hades whispered anger could turn your blood to ice, and Leo didn't want to test that.**

 **He had reached the obsidian doors, engraved with pictures of natural disasters, wars, explosions, and lots of death. He wondered if it would be seen as rude to enter without permission, no reason to give Lord Hades another excuse to throw him into Tartarus. He waited outside till he felt extremely uncomfortable, and then a whispered voice echoed from inside, "Enter, demi-god."'**

"Aw, fuck," Clarrise muttered. "You're in for it."

"How are you still alive?" Grover asked in awe.

Leo smiled. "I'm a special boy."

"Got that right," Poseidon said, looking amazed that he'd escaped the Underworld (and being kidnapped by Hades) alive.

' **Leo gulped and pushed open the door. It opened silently, at contrast with how Leo was feeling. He had been expecting a creaking door, a darkened room, and a bolt of deathness thrown at him once he entered. Instead he got a well lit room, albeit with Greek fire, which cast a green glow. The majority of the hall was black, though there were greys and dark shades of colour mixed in with the uniforms of the skeleton soldiers. All the shadows in the room seemed to flee from the giant being situated on the black throne.**

 **Leo bowed immediately, he may be a joker, but he wasn't suicidal, anything other than complete obedience at this point would get him killed. He straightened up, and began staring at the floor, respectfully keeping his head bowed. He remembered future Nico's rendition of how Hades intimidates people in his throne room. The first point being, he always made himself sound angry when they entered, just to see their response. Then he stared at them in silence, till they began twitching, or acting nervous.**

 **Though Leo knew what Lord Hades was doing, it was still very intimidating, and though he was determined not to show any sign of nerves, he had begun imagining ways to improve the floor. While the entirety of the room was completely intimidating, and, though Leo wouldn't admit it, scary, the floor was just block black. This emphasised the darkness of the room, but Leo felt that if Hades wanted to intimidate someone, he should do it properly. Just stare at the floor, and you could imagine you were anywhere else. However, if Lord Hades had incorporated a little something else, maybe embedded images of souls in torment on the floor. That would be the final touch. Though Leo was quite glad they weren't there, he felt intimidated enough.'**

By the end of that paragraph, all the people and gods were in hysterics.

"You're about to die, and you're criticizing the floor," Nyssa snorted. "Really?"

"Really, Nyssa," Leo deadpanned, making everyone laugh harder.

' **"Once you are done mentally criticising my throne room Valdez, perhaps we can get down to the reason you are here."**

 **Leo cringed, he had forgotten that the gods could read minds, oh joy! Perhaps Lord Hades would decide his soul would be the perfect one to start the new floor. He stayed quiet though, and tried to clear his mind. The next words out of the mouth of the Lord of the Dead somewhat surprised Leo.**

 **"I have decided to give you a chance to fight your way out. If you die, then your bones will join my skeletons, and your soul will rot in the fields of punishment, or decorate my new floor. If you win, then I will allow you to leave my kingdom, and will stop hunting you, provided you do a quest for me."**

 **Leo looked up, why on earth was he being given a chance? If Lord Hades suspected him of taking the bolt, and his helm, then why hadn't he been killed on the spot? Unless of course, Lord Hades was planning to bring out his best, and see how long it took Leo to fall; which, now he thought about it, seemed to sound like the sort of humour Hades and his children had.**

 **Leo looked upward at the face of Lord Hades, which seemed to have a dark smirk on his face, ah, the latter one then. He saw Hades's smirk grow, and felt the telltale effects of mind reading. He let his mind go blank, and had the satisfaction of seeing Hades smirk fall, before he snarled and said. "You will be fighting five Shadows. These are some of the greatest warriors of all time, who have agreed to serve me in my army, as a pose to heading to judgement. The darkness heals them, so good luck."**

 **Leo grabbed his backpack, and the metal rod that he had forged into a rough sword after the arch incident, as he had taken to calling it. He withdrew it, and the torch that he had, swinging it around to spot where the Shadows would be coming from. His apprehension was through the roof. It didn't seem that Chaos felt like helping him, and was probably watching himself, to see how good Leo was.**

 **Well, Leo thought, why don't you hook Hephaestus T.V up as well, this would be quite a show. One, he could take; two maybe, three at a stretch; five? No way. But he sure as Olympus would go down swinging. He was Leo freaking Valdez, hero of the giant war, and if he could take out some of the monsters he had fought then, then he could take out these Shadows!'**

"Determination," Connor said, pumping a fist in the air.

"Yeah," Clarrise said. "I like your style, Valdez. "

Leo stared at her. "Thanks."

Leo Valdez had just been praised by Clarrise La Rue. Run for your lives; the world is ending.

"Hell has frozen over," Percy muttered to Ananeth, who nodded.

 **'Leo watched as the five Shadows circled him. Two of them carried swords, two guns, and one a gigantic flail. He didn't want that hitting him. But first thing first, take out the guns. The five had gone still, the Shadows waiting for Leo to make a move. Leo lunged forward, grabbing one of the guns, and heating his hands, melting it instantly. Leo didn't waste time enjoying the look on Hades's face, though he imagined it was hilarious. He lunged again, but this time the Shadows were ready, and instead of grabbing the gun, had it hit him in the face instead, causing him to drop his sword. Well, that would be leaving a bruise.**

 **Then all five came at him at once, the one with the ruined gun drawing double knifes, and slashing at Leo's neck. Leo could now understand why they were the best; his effort was all taking up with defending and dodging. Leo felt himself tiring, these guys might be able to go on forever, but he couldn't. Sooner or later he would lose concentration, even with his ADHD, and make a fatal mistake.**

 **Time to get risky then. Leo backed towards his makeshift sword, ducking a swing from the five stone flail as he went, one hit with that and he'd be a Leo splat. He swiped it off the floor, and spun to clash with the sword that was about to slash his back. Leo wasn't as good with a sword as Percy or Jason, but he had trained with them, so liked to think he'd picked up on a few techniques. Not enough to win against the greatest warriors ever to die, but still, he could hold his own.**

 **Whilst fighting the swordsmen, and occasionally ducking or jumping the flail, Leo completely forgot about the gunmen, until a bullet went rocketing past his face. His opponents took advantage of his distraction to disarm him, and pin him against one of the black marble pillars. Leo barely ducked the knife thrown at his temple, but ducked into the path of one of the Stygian Iron blades.**

 **The blade pierced his shoulder, reopening the blooded tears from the furies claws, and reawakening the poison.'**

Somebody squeaked.

Another yelped.

Beckendorf yanked Leo into a half hug.

"Geesh, guys, I'm obviously not dead."

"That doesn't matter right now," Jake told him. "You still got hut."

 **'Leo felt himself grow stronger, the poison, which was supposed to be burning him up, adding to his fire ability. Leo grinned, first mistake, and ignited. The flames consumed the two swordsmen, and melted the flail, which had been flying toward his head. The flames seemed to explode from his body, spinning across the room.**

 **Leo shot a bolt of flame at the working gun, giving a new meaning to the word flamethrower, and the gun exploded in the Shadow's hand. Three down, two to go. Leo confined his flames to his arms, and gave the owner of the flail an uppercut, which snapped his head into another pillar, and he slid to the floor, unmoving.**

 **Leo turned to the knife thrower, with a grin on his face, and stared, waiting for him to move, concentrating intently on the iron knife in his grip. Watching as it began to heat up, his grin grew, and the Shadow didn't notice anything for the first few seconds, then began shaking his hand. Eventually dropping his knife and standing weaponless. Leo sent a bolt of fire at the undead warrior, sending him back to the world of the completely dead.**

 **Then he turned to the lord of the dead, who had been sitting motionless on his throne, and let his fire die, his grin still in place.'**

Athena was pale as a ghost. She'd never know a demigod to be so powerful. Ever.

After several minutes of silence, Apollo spoke:

"Who wants to read next?"

* * *

 _There was a healthy amount of dialogue in that chapter._

 _Okay, on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the best, how was the chapter? Don't be surprised if I ask you this a lot._


	25. Sally Jackson and Hades

_Chapter 25!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

"I will," Artemis said, quietly, after a moment. "Thank you," she told Apollo, stiffly, as he handed her the book.

 **'Lord Hades looked shocked, and for someone who usually hid his expression, that said a lot about how shocked Leo actually made him. He couldn't believe that a twelve year old, weak demigod, with no muscles to speak of, had managed to defeat five of his best fighters. Not one, five! None of the people he had set this task to had ever managed to defeat his warriors, not even the demi-gods that had been training for years had overcome his challenge.'**

"Impressive," LT Chiron mused, softly.

"Very," his future counterpart agreed. "With a little bit more training, he could be the key to defeating Gaea."

 **'He was forced to admit that the demi-god standing in front of him could be a helpful alia, if he sent one of his minions to take his children out of the lotus hotel, Zeus would get suspicious, but if he sent a demi-god... Zeus wouldn't believe that he had gotten a son of one of his precious Olympians helping him, so wouldn't realise that Hades still had his children, not until his children were too strong for him to ignore. By that point they would have alias at camp, so Zeus couldn't kill them without causing a public outcry.'**

"Clever plan, brother," the sea god murmured to the god of the dead.

 **'Yes, that would work very well, sent the son of Hephaestus to take his children out of that blasted hotel, and bring them to the underworld to train them. He would send them to camp, but Zeus wouldn't allow a cabin built for him. Especially to house children he wasn't supposed to have. So they would have to be trained in the underworld, and maybe he could persuade Valdez to introduce them to some of his friends, so they had support at camp.**

 **He looked back to the demi-god who was still sporting a grin, first he would have to establish whether or not Valdez had taken his helm. He didn't much care about his brother's bolt. Zeus needed his head shrunk anyway, and what better way than having his precious weapon disappear from under his nose.'**

Zues glared at the smug Hades.

' **As long as it didn't end up going to their father, then he didn't care who had it.'**

"He jinxed it," Leo mumbled.

 **'*Back to Leo's P.O.V**

 **Leo was delighted at the shocked look on Hades's face, he bet that only happened once every millennia! He got a little worried though when he noticed Hades's face take on a calmer look, a manipulative look. "Very well Valdez, you have proven your skill, so I will honour my word. But..." Leo mentally groaned, he knew there was a but, there was always a but. "But, first I need proof that you did not steal my helm, or, I suppose, my youngest brother's bolt. So, give me an oath on the Styx, and I will fulfil my side of the bargin."**

 **Leo grinned again, he might have known that the Shadows were just a test; he reckoned that if he couldn't swear on the Styx now, he would be killed regardless of the agreement. "I, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, do solemnly swear, on the river Styx, that I am innocent of taking both the bolt, and Lord Hades's helm."**

 **Leo couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Lord Hades was smiling at him, he shivered. His smile wasn't like Nico's, small and sweet; it was a grimace, looking scarier than the snarl did. Leo felt a little saddened by that, everyone should be able to smile. He felt a little pity for the Lord of the dead, and then wiped his mind of the emotion. Lord Hades wouldn't like to be pitied.**

 **Lord Hades was talking again. "Your quest will be to collect two children and bring them to me." Leo felt his heart sink. Sure he had gotten out of it, or would get out, if Lord Hades kept his word, but to bring two people to him, two kids. He couldn't do that, not if they would get hurt.**

 **"Sir, I can't do that, not if you're going to hurt them. Not kids."'**

"Leo, what happened to respecting the gods?" Annabeth hissed.

"Do you blame me?" Leo asked.

Annabeth didn't respond.

 **'Leo braced for the purposed bolt of deathness, but it didn't come. He looked at Lord Hades and swore he could see approval in his eye, before his expression once more went scarily blank.**

 **"Are you defying me demigod?" Lord Hades's voice rose to a shout, "You dare defy me!" Leo blinked, here came the bolt of deathness, but he had never expected Hades to sound so, Zeus like. It was weird how similar the two sounded.'**

"DEMIGOD! I SOUND NOTHING LIKE HIM!" Zeus and Hades shouted in unison before turning to stare at each other.

Poseidon burst out laughing, but he shut up as soon as his brothers spun around the glare at him.

 **'Well they were brothers Leo supposed, so they would sound a little alike. Leo thought back to how future Nico had described his father, "He likes to pretend to be angry, to see people's reactions." Leo's eyes widened. Hades was playing with him!'**

Hades humphed. "Damn you, demigod. Figuring out my tricks."

"I call it impressive," Hermes added. "After all, _the gods_ haven't been able to figure them out."

' **"I do not mean to defy you sir, but I can't bring two kids to the underworld before their time."**

 **There it was again, definite approval. "And if I told you they would not be harmed?" Hades added in a quieter voice that still seemed to be vibrating with fury. But now that Leo knew what was going on, he could hear the humour behind the fake anger. His respect for Hades increased, who knew the depressed king of the underworld had a sense of humour?**

 **"Then sir, I would fear them being tortured, and would still refuse." Leo could almost see the gears turning in Hades's mind. Maybe it was a child of Hephaestus thing.**

 **"If I swore on the Styx that they would neither be tortured or killed?"**

 **Leo thought it was about time to bring the charade to a close. "Then I would ask who the kids were, where to find them, and when you wanted them by."**

 **Hades gave another grim smile, "I will want your word on the Styx that you make sure no god knows whose children they are." A bolt slotted into place in Leo's mind, whose children... It would be kids of the big three then, if Hades didn't want anyone to know, and the fact that he said he would swear on the Styx to not let them be hurt, then they must be his kids, which meant... Nico and Bianca!"**

 **Leo spoke, "I swear on the river Styx, that I will tell no one the ancestry of the di Angelo's until such time I am allowed to speak of it." He looked challengingly at Lord Hades, who had frozen in his seat when Leo said "the di Angelo's". Hades leant forward, and stared intently at Leo, his gaze frighteningly intense.**

 **"I, Lord Hades, ruler of the underworld, do so swear on the great river Styx, that the di Angelo's will never be harmed purposely, by me or any of my servants, except during training. I also swear on that same river, that as long as Leo Valdez holds true to his oath, I will not harm him, not permit any of my servants to do so."**

 **Leo blinked at that, the surprise evident on his face. He had expected the parts about the Nico and Bianca, but not the part about Hades nor any of his servants hurting him. That was almost a quarter of all known monsters that were now not allowed to hurt him. Lord Hades was being surprisingly nice to him.'**

Everyone was staring at the god of Death in amazement, but one glare later, and they were all shrinking away from him.

Artemis thought it would be best to continue reading.

' **Hades again leant forward, and said in a much harsher voice. "Tell me how you knew of my children".**

 **About ten minutes ago, Leo and Hades finally finished their discussion about life and death in general, and Leo asked if he could see Sally Jackson. Hades had looked at him suspiciously, but agreed to let him see her, as it wouldn't break any ancient laws, because she wasn't dead. Leo had also asked if normal food, brought into the underworld, had the same effect as having underworld food. Hades had looked at him surprised, before answering that it didn't. Leo had made him swear on the Styx on that though. He said he was willing to place his own life in Hades's hands, after his previous oath on the Styx, but he wasn't prepared to do the same with Percy's mom.'**

"Thanks," Percy whispered.

Leo smiled. "No need."

 **'So there he was, standing outside one of the many rooms in Hades's palace that had skeletons guarding the door, with his backpack on, plucking up the courage to go in and say hello. He hadn't know Sally Jackson in the future, apart from the bias description he had from Percy, as Gaia had killed her just into the main war, to try and crush Percy's spirit.'**

Percy froze.

"Don't worry, Perce. It's not going to happen this time; I promise," Leo told him.

Percy still looked shaken up, but he nodded.

 **'Suffice to say, it did not work. Leo raised his hand and knocked, then heard a strong, though slightly wavering voice say, "come in."'**

"Who's next?" Artemis called.

"I'll read."

Everyone turned to stare at Dionysis in shock.

"What? I can't be curious?"

Artemis handed him the book.

"Chapter 23: In Which The Trio Arrive In The Underworld."

* * *

 _Dionysus is reading something that isn't a wine magazine and is about puny demigods? What has the world come to?_


	26. Never His

_Chapter 26!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

"Chapter 23: In Which The Trio Arrive In The Underworld."

 **'Leo gulped, and pushed the door open. Why was it that he was more scared of meeting Percy's mom, than the Lord of the Underworld? How was that logical? Leo mentally snorted, how was anything about his messed up life logical?'**

"Very good point," a child of Hecate said.

"But seriously, dude, don't be afraid to meet my mom," Percy told him. "She's awesome."

"I know that now," Leo replied.

 **'Upon opening the door, Leo could see a grey room, with a grey bed, grey carpet, and grey everything else. The only spot in the entire room that had color was the woman standing in front of the bed. She was holding her chin high, but Leo was an expert at hiding emotions, and he could see the panic and confusion in her eyes.**

 **"Lord Hades should defiantly fire his interior decorator." Leo glanced at the walls, "between the floor of the throne room, and the walls of this place, he, or she, is doing a terrible job."**

 **Leo glanced back at Percy's mom, she hadn't moved, but the look of confusion in her eyes was getting more pronounced. Leo couldn't blame her, she had been imprisoned in Hades's dungeons for the majority of time she had been here, then abruptly moved to a drab room, which Leo bet was way more comfortable, and now some random twelve year old kid had walked in and commented on the decorating of all things! Leo figured he owed her an explanation.'**

"I would think it was pretty weird too," Chris, the son of Hephaestus, said.

"Yeah," Leo agreed.

 **'Leo winced, how was he going to explain this? Percy's mom had just had her life ripped apart, how do you explain that? Leo walked back over to the door, and leant against it, forgetting that if opened out, and that he had unlocked it earlier.**

 **Leo hit the floor with a grunt; he seemed to end up on the floor unduly often, "ouch." Leo saw Percy's mom come over, amusement dancing in her tired eyes. Now that Leo looked properly, he could see how tired and week she actually was. She acted strong, but he could see that she was almost swaying as she walked, he could see the effort it took her to remain standing.'**

Percy glared at Hades, who actually shrunk away. Yes, the god of the dead shrunk away from a twelve year old kid; I'm not lying.

 **'Leo leapt to his feet, and gave a grin. "I'm fine! Um, I don't mean to sound rude, but you better sit down, or you might fall over."**

 **Percy's mom retreated to the bed and sat down; she looked at him and said, "Are you implying I'm old?"**

 **Leo was about to protest, before he noticed the glint in her eyes. She was pulling his leg. His respect for Percy's mom shot up. Anyone who could still joke after spending more than ten days in the underworld deserved respect. Especially when they were a mortal, and spent some of that time in Hades's dungeons. Leo grinned again.**

 **"I have got to tell Percy that his mom is awesome."**

 **Leo noticed Percy's mom stiffen, had he said that out loud?**

 **"You know Percy? Is he alright?"**

 **Ah, he had said that out loud, well that was awkward. Well, the least he could do was answer her questions, now that he'd worried her like that. "Yep, I know Percy; he's awesome. As far as alright goes... He's on a quest, so he's not dead, but he'll be arriving via Charons' ferry, to talk with Lord Hades."**

 **"Why is my son on a quest? He's known about being a demi-god less than a month, he isn't trained enough!"**

 **"Lord Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen at the winter solstice; he immediately blamed Lord Poseidon, who in turn, blamed Lord Hades. Unfortunately, since Zeus is somewhat paranoid, he said that if his bolt wasn't returned by summer solstice, then he would declare war on Poseidon. Unknown to the both of them, Hades's helm was also stolen, and he also blamed Poseidon. That's why the mad bull was after you. So both blamed Poseidon, but since gods can't steal other god's weapons directly..."**

 **"They both blamed Percy."**

 **"Yeah. Well, they did, until I blurted out in front of one of Hades's minions that it wasn't Percy's fault, he didn't know what he was, and he didn't know where the Helm or Bolt was. Since Hades hadn't told anyone about the Helm's disappearance, yet I knew, he assumed that I had taken it. So Zeus was after Percy, and Hades was after me. I think that's why he moved you here, instead of keeping you in the dungeons. So, Yeah..."**

 **Percy's mom wasn't saying anything, just looking at him with that stare that Percy had whenever he was trying to figure out whether someone was lying. Leo could now see where Percy had gotten that stare from. Just as Leo was about to bolt from the room, Percy's mom spoke.**

 **"You're not telling me everything, but I don't think you've lied either. I have other questions though, do you mind?"**

 **"Not at all, but I figure we might as well have something to eat while we talk. And I reserve the right to plead the fifth."'**

"Heard those rights often, Valdez?" A child of Ares- Max, I think his name was- smirked.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you," Leo recited.

Everyone stared at him.

"Erm, yeah, I've had a few issues with the law. But I swear, fifty percent of the time, I was framed; and the other fifty usually had something to do with running from enemies or running from foster homes."

By the end of his speech, everyone that cared for Leo had paled, tremendously.

"What?"

"Nothing," Nyssa said. "We will be talking about that later."

She then gestured to the god of wine to continue reading.

 **'Leo reached out to the box of food that he had gotten out of his bag, then walked toward the bed, and sat legs crossed, at the foot of the bed. He looked up at Percy's mom.**

 **"You do know that any food eaten in the underworld will mean you have to stay here till you actually die."**

 **"Ah, ha, that's where you're wrong. Any food grown in the underworld will mean that, yes, but this is food that I brought into the underworld, therefore it doesn't have the same effects."**

 **Percy's mom was still looking a little disbelieving, so Leo added, "I swear on the river Styx that I'm not lying, about anything I have told you, or will tell you today."**

 **She looked relieved, but then asked. "Why just today?"**

 **"Because I don't want you to be able to hold this oath over me forever, I'd never be able to lie to Percy, because he could just ask you to ask me, and I wouldn't be able to lie!"**

 **Leo looked back at the food box, and began to open it, he heard Percy's mom say. "What's your name?"**

 **"Leo Valdez." Leo hadn't looked up from setting the food out on the bed, but once he did he noticed she was looking at him again.**

 **"What?"**

 **"Leo Valdez?"**

 **"Yes..."**

 **"The Leo Valdez who attended Yancy academy, and ran away just before the end of school. "**

 **"I only ran away after I blurted to the fury that Percy didn't take the bolt, and then Chiron and Grover thought I had taken it, and then Percy looked at me like... Like you are now! And they all looked disappointed, and it hurt!" Leo's voice dropped to an almost silent level, the betrayal he had felt at that moment, when his friends turned on him, leaking into his voice. "I thought they trusted me."**

 **The emotions were rolling around inside of him, and he absentmindedly wondered what it was about the Jackson family that made him break down whenever he was around them. The next thing he registered was arms wrapping around him, and tears in his eyes. She was hugging him, like him mom used to, Percy's mom was hugging him.**

 **Leo pulled away, ignoring the part of him that wanted to be hugged like that, like he had his mom back, but this was Percy's mom, not his.'**

Percy patted his shoulder. "For what it's woth, my mom is practically everyone's mom in all except blood."

Leo smiled. "Thanks, Perce."

 **'Never his.'**

Hephaestus stared at his lap. Apollo- very awkwardly, mind you- patted him on the shoulder.

Artemis frowned. Maybe- just maybe- her brother wasn't a complete egotistical jerk.

' **"Stop it," Leo was alarmed at how small his voice sounded, "You're Percy's mom, not mine." Leo couldn't stop a tear falling, why did everything work out for Percy, he didn't get hurt by the fury, or Echidna and her children. He had a massive destiny, but he had support. Leo had never had support. Not since he killed his... Not since his mom's death.**

 **"Oh, Leo. What happened to your mom?"**

 **"She died, I... I killed her." The guilt was rolling in, and he couldn't hold back the tears. He didn't understand why this was happening. The first time around he didn't cry over anything, but now he had fallen to bits twice in a week. What was happening? He didn't understand. Percy's mom hugged him again, and this time he didn't pull away.**

 **After a while, Leo's sobs stopped, and he pulled away from Percy's mom, embarrassed. She gave him a soft smile, then "You mentioned food?"**

 **Leo couldn't stop laughing for an hour.**

 **A couple of hours later they had moved on to talking about Percy, and Leo was describing one of the pranks they had pulled on Mr. Angle, when a loud alarm blasted through the palace.**

 **"What's that?"**

 **"Your son's arrived."'**

"Really, Leo?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes! Whenever you hear alarms, you know Percy had something to do with it."

"Or you," Percy added.

"Or me," Leo agreed.

"Who's next?" Dionysis asked.

Once again, another huge surprise gave everyone a heart attack when Aphrodite looked up from her nails and took the book.

"What has the world come to?" Leo muttered to Percy.

"I don't know, but I haven't decided whether or not I like it yet."

* * *

 _I liked this chapter, but that's just me. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, how good was this chapter? Don't be surprised if I ask you to rate my chapters a lot._


	27. Leo Needs To Learn To Shut Up

_Longer chapter!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

"Chapter 25: In Which Percy should never be a Diplomat, and Leo should learn to keep his mouth shut."

' **Leo directed Percy's mom, or Aunt Sally, as she had told him to call her, toward the throne room. That was where Percy, Annabeth and Grover would be headed. The corridor there seemed somehow less scary when he knew that he and Aunt Sally were now under Lord Hades's protection. Though Hades was a dark and cruel god, who got his amusement from torture and messing with people's heads, he wasn't evil. The fact that he had imprisoned someone who was innocent, a mortal no less, irritated him, and he felt that he had to make it up, he felt like he owed Aunt Sally something. If there was one thing Leo had learnt about the lord of the underworld was that he hated having debts.'**

"The bastard's too smart!" Hades muttered.

Poseidon chuckled.

 **'They reached the throne room, and again waited outside the engraved doors. Leo was once again forced to admire Percy's mom's mental strength;'**

"Thank you," Percy said, smiling. "She is rather strong. I'll make sure to tell her you said that."

Leo grinned. "Thanks, Perce."

' **she barely showed a reaction to the images. Even he had cringed at the scenes of disaster, and he had been through WW3 for Hephaestus's sake!**

 **The cold voice echoed from within, and Leo pushed the doors open, and walked in, with Sally following. They both came to a stop before the shadowed throne, and bowed low. Leo watching Sally out of the corner of his eye, and seeing the slight shake as she bowed. No-one, except Nico, could stand in front of Lord Hades and be totally fearless. Nico hardly counted, he was pretty much a less powerful and a bit friendlier version of his father, (and part Italian).'**

Everyone stared at Leo.

"What? It's true," Leo shrugged.

' **Hades stood from his throne and shrunk to human size, walking forward to stand in front of Leo and Sally. He looked the part of the King of Death, even mortal sized. Leo was so glad that Lord Hades had promised not to hurt him, or he would have been shaking in his boots. Well, shoes technically he wasn't wearing boots at the minute. He wondered if he should buy some welly boots, did camp ever get muddy?'**

LT Chrion chuckled. "No. The camp's weather protected."

"Oh, right," Leo mumbled. "Forgot about that."

 **'Leo's attention returned when he saw Hades looking at him in twisted amusement. "It takes a very, unique, type of person, Leo Valdez, who can get distracted by welly boots, when faced with the Lord of the Dead."'**

Many people nodded and laughed at the very real truth behind this statement.

' **Leo grinned, and glanced at Sally, seeing her trying to contain her own amusement.**

 **"I'm a fire user; unique is practically my middle name, sir."'**

"No, it isn't. It's Samuel," Hephaestus snorted. "But unique works, too."

 **"Indeed."**

 **Lord Hades turned to face Percy's mom, who seemed a little bemused by the conversation between the two, and then turned back to Leo. "Would you give us some privacy?"**

 **"Yes, sir" , Leo immediately turned away, and walked to the other side of the wide hall, no matter how that was phrased, he knew that hadn't been a request, but an order. Leo wasn't reckless enough to disobey an order from the king of the Underworld. He wasn't Percy.'**

Percy looked ready to protest before he noticed the truth behind the statement and just shrugged instead.

' **Leo began admiring the large marble pillars. (He may have been a fire user, but he still appreciated good workmanship, and design fell into that category). He could have sworn that they were literally covered in shadows. That was an awesome design! The interior decorator could now be forgiven for the floor, almost. Leo was just going back to mentally criticising the floor, when he noticed that the murmured talk on the other side of the throne room had ceased.**

 **He turned on his heels, and saw Hades beckon him back. He returned to the other two, noticing that Sally looked rather more relaxed. The smile that she gave him was bigger, and a hundred times more genuine. Lord Hades was talking again.**

 **"The other gods believe that I think the son of Poseidon guilty of the theft, or that I am guilty myself. Either way, I cannot be seen being lenient on the boy. That spreads to you two. The other gods cannot see into my domain, but should that insufferable daughter of Athena notice that I am treating you more like guests and less like prisoners, then I will lose what little respect; or fear, that people still have for me. This being the case, I shall have to treat you as prisoners when they arrive. Both of you."**

 **Leo could see where this was going, and while he couldn't pretend to be happy with it, he understood the necessity. The only reason Lord Hades wasn't mocked for his brothers' stupid decision to throw him of the council was that people were afraid of him, demigods and gods alike. If he were to lose the fear factor, then he would likely be ridiculed.**

 **"So, are you going to put us in chains sir?"'**

"Why did I open my mouth?" Leo muttered.

"I have no idea, bro," Conner said. Past Conner, obviously, since Future Conner couldn't or wouldn't speak.

"That was a rather stupid move," Travis agreed.

' **Leo saw a glint in Hades eye that he decidedly didn't like. Oh, why did he have to open his big mouth?**

 **Half an hour later, Leo was immersed in shadows, by the right side of Hades's throne, with his hands and feet in chains. Sally was in chains to, on the other side of the throne. Lord Hades was back to full size and sitting on the throne, with his face harder than diamond, and his eyes cold and dark. Back in intimidating mode.**

 **"Valdez shut up."'**

'You weren't even talking," Beckendorf frowned.

"Wait for it..."

 **'Wha... He hadn't even been talking!**

 **"You're thinking, it's annoying."**

 **Leo huffed, oh, ok; bet he wasn't going to tell Aunt Sally off for thinking, noooo it was pick on Leo day was it?**

 **"Obviously."'**

Many chuckled.

"Hades has a sense of humor. Who knew?" Hermes mumbled to Apollo.

 **'Leo mentally sulked, till his ears picked up three familiar voices outside the great doors, and they were pushed open by skeletoneion guards, and in walked Percy, with Annabeth and Grover just behind him.**

 **Leo watched in silence as the trio approached the shadowed throne, and came to a halt before it. He felt Hades turn on his godly aura, the one that made everyone want to bow to him, even other gods sometimes. Leo had to admit that lounged on his throne like a panther, Hades sure looked the part as all- powerful, dastardly, lord of the Underworld.**

 **"You are brave to come here, son of Poseidon. After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."'**

"Probably both," Percy replied.

' **Leo almost snorted, so Hades was still pretending to think that Percy took the bolt and helm, and from what he knew of Percy, brave and foolish summed him up, if you added in a dose of loyalty of course. Curse his ADHD, it sounded like he was making a recipe. Crème de la Percy. Wow, weird thought.'**

Percy stared at him. "Very weird thought."

Leo nodded. "Don't tell me you don't have weird thoughts like that."

Percy sighed. "Still. Let's not talk about making me into food."

Leo nodded again. "Yeah... you'd probably taste salty."

Conner and Travis burst into laughter, and Percy glared.

' **"Lord and uncle, I come with two requests." Leo cringed, Percy's manners were awful! Everyone knew that gods, or goddesses didn't listen unless you showered them with praise first; or you had at least bowed! He was starting to realise why future Annabeth never let Percy speak to gods they were trying to convince to help. He could never be a diplomat.'**

"At least the kid knows how to talk to gods," Hera scowled.

Leo smiled. "Yes, Tia, if there was one thing you taught me, it was that you don't disrespect gods or they'll put you in the fire place."

"What?" Hephaestus and his kids squawked.

"What are you talking about?" Beckendorf demanded.

"Oh, right, I haven't told you. Hera here was my babysitter until I was six. She put me in a fireplace once, but it turned out okay," Leo shrugged, as though it were normal for caretakers to put children into fireplaces.

"You ruined my life, and now you have to ruin my son's?" Hephaestus growled.

Hera waved it off. "I was teaching him how to be a warrior."

"You did the same with Ares and look what happened to him!"

The said god was lazily throwing daggers at the ceiling.

"And you!" Nyssa suddenly yelled, whirling on Leo. "You act like that's normal!"

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"You act like a caregiver putting a child in the fireplace is normal!"

Leo shrugged. "It isn't that bad compared to what some of the foster parents did."

Everyone froze.

"What did they do?" Travis asked, suddenly serious.

Leo pursed his lips. "Obviously, it wasn't too bad. I mean, I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Leo, they abused you!" Annabeth shouted. "That is very bad."

Leo sighed. "Guys, it's in the past."

"No-"

"How about this?" Chiron suddenly called, although he looked just as enraged as Hephaestus, the demigods, and even other gods. "We finish this book and we'll read the first chapter of the next. We'll take a break to get something to eat, and then, we'll discuss this before continuing the reading."

Everyone reluctantly agreed.

' **Judging by the look on Annabeth's face, she too thought that Percy should shut up. It was good to know that though he had travelled back years, Percy and Annabeth were still the same.**

 **Leo was slightly confused as to why none of the three had noticed him and Aunt Sally yet, at least until he realised that there were shadows floating around his face. How had he not noticed them before? He shuddered in the chains that he was bound in. This room may have more light than the one he was remembering, but these floating shadows reminded him of his and Hazels (mostly Hazels) fight in front of the doors of death.'**

No one even bothered to ask, although a sudden chill rippled through the throne room, seemingly spreading like a virus.

' **"Only two requests?" If Percy, the king of sarcasm, well, one of the kings, (Leo liked to think that he himself knew quite a lot about sarcasm) couldn't sence that then he truly was sleep deprived.**

 **"Arrogant child. " Arrogant? Percy? Now Leo knew that he wasn't the cleverest, and yeah, he was kinda sucktastic at grammar, but he was pretty sure that arrogant meant someone who was prideful and self-important,'**

"Grammer? I think you mean vocab," Annabeth chuckled.

"No, grammer means the structure of a language, which included semantics, aka the meaning of aka word or phrase," Leo stated.

Everyone stared at him.

Leo's eyes widened. "I think I spent too much time with Annabeth in the future."

"Probably," Grover agreed.

 **'i.e.: Octavian. Percy was nothing like Octavian, at all.**

 **"As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."**

 **Leo saw Percy swallow, and here he was thinking his friend was fearless. It seemed he did have some survival instincts after all. Well he knew Percy wasn't fearless, he had been there when Annabeth sustained a load of injuries, and the fear in Percy's eyes when he thought she would never wake up... Though it wasn't as loud as the scream that Piper gave when Jason was killed, he could still remember the war cry from Percy when his girlfriend died in his arms.'**

Percy blinked, and almost unconsciously, he grabbed Annabeth's hand.

He stared at their locked hands for a few moments, neither of them blushing, before he ripped it away.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Annabeth smiled, and she took his hand.

Everyone stared at her. That was very uncharacteristic.

Leo smiled before glaring at the others, daring anyone to break the moment. Even Athena shut her mouth.

 **'Even with his memories dulled to keep him sane, courtesy of Chaos, that was one thing he would never forget.**

 **Leo watched as Annabeth poked Percy in the back to get him talking again. It took all his effort to not burst out laughing, even before they were going out, and even before they knew they liked each other, Percy still did what Annabeth told him. Wow, he was so whipped.**

 **"Lord Hades, look Sir, there can't be a war among the gods, it would be..." Carnage, Leo's ever helpful mind supplied.**

 **"Bad"'**

Poseidon frowned. "Yes. Bad. Very bad."

Percy blushed.

 **'Oh, well that worked too, though it was a little anti-climatic.**

Reyna snorted. "A little?"

Leo smiled and placed an arm around her. It was so good to see her smile; he only saw her do so three times in all the time he knew her.

' **"Really bad". Thanks for that Grover, Leo's sarcasm had returned, because bad wasn't descriptive enough, let's just add a 'really'. That helps everything.**

 **"Return Zeus's master bolt to me. Please sir, Let me carry it to Olympus"**

 **Leo knew that the trio were almost 100% certain that Hades had the bolt, but that was a really big assumption, and not one that the trio could afford to make. It really made Leo wonder how they got out alive the first time around. They waltzed right into Lord Hades's palace, accused him falsely and got out? Without a Leo there to assure Hades that Percy was innocent? How? Percy had to have the most extreme luck ever. Good enough to get out of here alive, yet bad enough to fall into Tartarus.'**

"What?" Poseidon demanded.

"Don't worry," Leo rushed to say. "It happened the first time, but I'm here to change things."

Poseidon calmed down, slightly.

 **'Yet good enough to get out, yet bad enough to... Leo stopped thinking; it had started to malfunction his brain.**

 **"You dare to keep up this pretence after what you have done?"**

 **Yeah, like you can talk about pretences, Leo looked at the being on the throne in horror, phew, he hadn't been reading Leos mind at that point. He didn't want to have to stay down here. Hades had promised not to harm him, but he hadn't promised to let him leave the underworld.**

 **Leo saw Percy glance at Annabeth in confusion. "Um... Uncle, you keep saying 'after what I've done'. What exactly have I done?"**

 **Leo jumped at Hades voice, if he shouted any louder, he would make the ceiling fall down, buried alive via Hades's voice was another thing on his too-avoid list.'**

"That list just gets longer by the minute, doesn't it?" Travis said in a mock curious and unconcerned voice.

' **"Do you think I want war godling?"**

 **Godling. That one another word Leo didn't understand, what was wrong with saying demi-god? With all the names, half-blood, demigod, godling, spawn of *insert godly parents name here* .You'd think demigods would get confused.'**

"You get used to it," Jake assured him.

'Leo realised he had missed part of the conversation, when he listened again, he heard Hades on a rant.

 **"... My kingdom has swelled in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open? More security ghouls. Traffic problems at the judgement pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"**

 **"Charon wants a pay rise."'**

Poseidon sighed, his head in his hands. "You have a death wish, don't you, boy?"

"Not really. But maybe Annabeth's right. There's a whole lot of seaweed up here," Percy said, rapping his knuckles against his head.

 **'For a second the entire hall was silent, looking at Percy in utter disbelief. Well everyone apart from Leo, who was too busy trying to stuff his fist into his mouth to stop himself cracking up. Up till now it was thought that no-one was suicidal enough to interrupt Hades in the middle of a rant. But it seemed that a certain son of Poseidon was. That was what Leo had meant by Percy being reckless.**

 **Leo was really glad that he knew Percy would survive, because otherwise he'd probably be looking like Annabeth, a mix between horror and utter embarrassment. Glancing up at Hades he could see the god fighting a smirk. It seemed that the Lord of the dead wasn't too upset with the disrespect, it was probably somewhat refreshing to have someone not be deathly afraid of him.**

 **"Don't get me started on Charon!" Hades yelled. "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. No, godling. I need no help getting subjects! I did not ask for this war."**

 **"But you took Zeus's master bolt." Leo realised that Percy could be a little slow, I mean, he's Percy. But surely Annabeth should have realised by now that Hades obviously didn't have the bolt, it was kinda obvious.**

 **"Lies!" Leo watched as Hades stood up from his throne, towering over the demi-gods (and satyr). "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."**

 **"His plan?" Yes Percy, the mastermind plan to discredit the king of the underworld and get him universally hated, then start a war. Well more universally hated than he already was, at any rate. Leo watched as Hades's right hand twitched, and he gulped. He should really watch what he was thinking. Especially around gods and goddesses who could read minds (and he still thought that was a breach of privacy.)**

 **"You were the thief on the winter solstice," Hades continued, ignoring Leo for the minute. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus; you took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"**

 **"I thought that you thought Leo was guilty. If you thought it was me all along, then why did you hunt Leo! None of this is his fault." Leo felt glad that Percy was willing to defend him, but the way that he had said that almost seemed like a confession...'**

 **"It really did now that I think back on it," Percy sighed.**

 **'"So, you admit that you are the thief?" Hades lent forward, an unreadable glint in his eye. Well unreadable to most people, but Leo knew Nico, and he was actually quite a lot like his father. Hades was intrigued by Percy. It was mainly dishonest and stupid demi-gods that Lord Hades dealt with. Having a demigod like Percy, who was willing to place his own life on the line for a friend was different for him. (Though Leo wasn't denying that Percy could be unduly stupid on occasion. Like earlier).**

 **"No sir, I'm not the thief, but neither is Leo, and you sent your furies to grab him, I'm just...Worried for him." Leo again felt happy at the fact that Percy was worried for him, but couldn't help be worried for him too; speaking to Hades like that was not a good idea if you valued your life, or sanity.**

 **Hades sat back down on his shadowed throne. "A demigod who cares for someone other than themselves. That is something I have not seen in a while." He again leant forward, and even though Leo knew it was an empty threat, he could feel his heart jump to his throat at the next words, almost hissed. "But it does not mean that I will refrain from destroying you."'**

The book was handed off.

'Chapter 26: In Which Three Pearls Cause an Argument.'

* * *

 _How was it?_

 _We're nearing the end of Change Through Flame! But we also have a sequel._


	28. Hades Can Laugh? Who Knew?

_Chapter 28!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

 **Leo had to hand it to the guy; Hades was the master of intimidation.'**

Hades smirked, proudly.

' **He had thought Annabeth intimidating when he first met her, coming out of the flying chariot, her knife glinting, and all like, give me Percy Jackson or I will gut you. Not to mention how intimidating Percy was after the eidolon had fired on New Rome. But Lord Hades put them all to shame. Leo thought that Percy's gulp could have been heard from the depths of Tartarus (not that he had ever been down there, that was someplace he never wanted to go. Ever).'**

Hephaestus nodded, shakily. "Agreed, son."

Reyna, now very pale, leaned over to Leo. "Is that foreshadowing?"

Leo took a shaky breath. "I don't know. It sounds like it, but for now, just hope it isn't."

Reyna nodded, but she couldn't shake the awful feeling in her gut.

 **'Leo felt his respect for Annabeth go up, as she was the one to break the silence. "But ...Lord Hades, your helm of darkness is missing, too?"**

 **"Do not play innocent with me, girl. You and the satyr have been helping this hero - coming here to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt - to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him?"**

 **Leo almost snorted at that, Lord Hades accusing Poseidon of blackmail when he was the one holding Percy's mom, and one of his best friends in chains. Yeah, it was really Poseidon doing the blackmailing here. Oh, that was where his sarcasm had gone; he'd wondered where it had vanished to.'**

Several people laughed at that.

"He has a good point," Poseidon chuckled.

Hades huffed. "Fine, he does, but all is fair in love and war."

Apollo gasped, dramatically. "Uncle Death Breath said something wise? It's a-"

"Winter Solstice, 1879," Hades said, abruptly.

Apollo promptly shut up, and the demigods were left wondering what on earth happened on the Winter Solstice of 1879.

' **"No!" Percy spoke again. Or, shouted technically. "Poseidon didn't - I didn't - " Wow, Percy could stutter? Leo had never been able to picture Percy doing that. Then again, he had never thought that he would ever be transported back in time either, so...**

 **"I have said nothing of the helm's disappearance," Hades snarled, "because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help.'**

Zeus stared at his brother and actually felt slightly guilty...

But only slightly.

"That's wrong," Leo suddenly said. "Why would you do that to your own brother? Just because he's the god of death? Campers treated Nico the same way, and guess what? In the end, Nico saved our asses more times than I can count."

"Demigod-"

"And in the Titan war, Hades was the only god to help fight Kronos," Leo didn't even care that he'd just blurted out a spoiler. "And he's the only godly parent that cared enough to help his son when he really needed it. He gave Nico a home in the Underworld because he didn't have one at camp, and Hades knew how that felt. Tell me, who's the bad guy now?"

Zeus sputtered, and everyone half expected him t shoot a bolt of lightning at Leo.

"I'm sorry, brother," Zeus said instead, turning to Hades. "I tried to kill your children; I kicked you off Olympus; I killed Maria. I kind of understand why you'd want revenge."

Hades sighed. "I'll admit... I shouldn't have gone after the girl for your mistakes. She didn't deserve that."

The gods were silent, as were the demigods. No one had ever thought Zeus or Hades were capable of apologizing, especially to each other.

"What are you all staring at?" Zeus suddenly demanded. "Continue."

 **'I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing."**

 **Leo couldn't help but agree with Lord Hades on that point. He had only ever known the Hades who had his throne on Olympus back, who was part of Olympus again (albeit a slightly jaded part). The Olympians of Leo's time were obligated to help Hades if something happened, as he was one of them. The Olympians of this time wouldn't help. They were far more likely to take advantage of it.**

 **"...So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."**

 **Leo couldn't help the little snort that came out that time, though he was pretty sure no one heard him. Because sending a Minotaur after someone wasn't trying to stop them. It was just a friendly welcome to the world of a demi-god, from an oh so loving uncle. Riiiight.'**

"I like him," Apollo muttered to Hermes, who nodded in agreement.

' **"You didn't try to stop us? But - ". Leo cringed. You don't point out how a god might be wrong. Not if you value your life and especially not when they are already mad at you. At least Leo had protested in his head. And only after Lord Hades had sworn on the Styx not to hurt him. Percy had no such protection, and though he did have a powerful daddy behind him, in Hades's realm, that didn't much help either.**

 **Hades got a gleam in his black eyes, "So I have a proposition for you young Hero, return my helm now, or I will stop death. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson - your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."**

 **Leo winced again, he knew that Hades wouldn't do so, not know he knew that neither Leo nor Percy had taken his helm, but the thought of the doors of death being opened brought back memories of a future war, and his two of his friends lying dead in front of a fully awaked Gaia.'**

The Futures and Leo shuddered almost uncontrollably at that. Everyone else shivered as well, but not to the same extent. They could only imagine, but the futures and Leo didn't have to. They'd seen it with their own eyes.

 **'He shuddered at the memory. That had truly been the worst day of his life. He noticed Hades inquiring glance in his direction, and shook his head. Disrespectful? Yes, but he just couldn't talk about it. Even with the memories dulled, it was still too painful.'**

"I understand," Hades said, almost inaudibly.

 **'Leo looked back up at the hall, just in time to see all the skeletal soldiers take a step forward and raise their weapons. Grover looked terrified by this point, and Annabeth looked ready to bolt, not that she would. Percy however looked offended. He had a load of skeleton soldiers pointed weapons at him, and he didn't look scared! What was wrong with that kid?'**

"Lots of things," Grover and LT Grover said.

"Including but not limited to the fact that his head is filled with seaweed," Annabeth added.

Percy crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, and everyone burst into laughter when it suddenly tipped backwards and he was spilled to the floor.

Percy stood, sat back down, and managed to look like nothing happened.

"My point has been proven," Annabeth stated.

' **"You're as bad as Zeus," Percy said. Leo's mouth dropped open, and he didn't even attempt to close it. He had just compared Hades to Zeus. The same Zeus who had kicked Hades off Olympus. Sane people didn't do that. At least sane people who valued their lives didn't. Leo was ready to melt the chains and jump in front of Percy with a gag. He really needed to shut up.'**

Percy stared Leo down.

"Not one word," Leo said.

Percy smirked as he turned around. "I don't need words."

 **'But noooo, Percy didn't want to shut up. "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?" No Percy, he sent the furies after you because he thought they needed to stretch their wings.'**

"Sarcasm," Travis and Conner said.

 **"Of course," Hades spoke. "And the fact that you are the son of my brother, who swore on the great river that he wouldn't have any more children. Then broke his word. You follow Olympus demi-god. But its king, my accursed brother, is far more cruel that I would ever be. Tell me, Son of Poseidon, did anyone ever tell you that I had children before that blasted oath was sworn? Did Chiron tell you that Zeus killed them? My daughter was just your age, and my son was only ten years old, yet Zeus murdered them, without remorse. And then People have the nerve to blame me for what happen to that Thalia girl. It's perfectly fine for Zeus to kill my children, but when I, send monster after his, suddenly I'm evil."**

 **The throne room was silent, everyone in it reeling from the information that Hades had just imparted. Leo had to hand it to him. That was the best speech Hades could have possibly given to get Percy on his side. Percy cared a lot for family; to hear what had been done to Hades's children would make him mad at Zeus.**

 **"...And I thought your father different. He had never killed any children of mine without reason, but no. I was a fool to believe so. He may not have attacked my children, for now I have none to attack, yet he is perfectly fine with me taking the blame for his crime. Sending you to blackmail me. As if I can be controlled! But your father made a grave error, for here in my domain, you are nothing, and he cannot save you. So I say again, if you ever wish to leave the underworld, return to me my Helm!"**

 **"But sir, I don't have your helm. I never took it. I came here for the master bolt." Percy was looking increasingly more frightened. Now his anger at Hades has died down, his fear was showing. Leo could see the understanding in Annabeth's eyes, that someone had tricked them. He could see Grover looking between Hades and Percy, waiting for Percy to be blow to ashes.**

 **"You already have the master bolt boy; do you think you can trick me? I have been ridiculed long enough. No more! You came here with it, at the whim of your father, thinking you could threaten me. I am a god, you fool. I can wipe you from existence with a flick of my finger. Do not test me!"**

 **"But I don't!"**

 **"Open your pack, then."**

 **A horrible fear hit Leo then. He had spoken to Hades about Percy not taking the bolt, and he had though Hades had believed him, but he could see the bolt in Percy's pack, could feel the energy it was emitting. Now he was truly fearful for his friends' life. Chaos was protecting Leo, not his friends. What if Chaos had decided that it was in the best interest of the planet that Percy died before the prophecy could come to pass?**

 **Leo saw the horror and disbelief on Percy's face as he open the backpack given to him by Ares, and found the master bolt there. A two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.**

 **"Percy," Annabeth said. "How -"**

 **"I - I don't know. I don't understand."**

 **But Leo understood, and it made him hate Ares more than he ever had before. He had heard the roundabout story from future Percy, and a rehashing of the story by Chaos, but now being here, and seeing how close his best friend was to dying because of that stupid war god. Well, Leo could now see why Percy had always hated Ares.'**

All the gods glared at Ares, as well as some of the more daring demigods. He actually shrank back.

The LT demigods and Chrion, however, were shocked. Of all the people they'd been expecting, Ares had not been one of them.

' **"You heroes are all the same, Foolish. How dare you think that you could bring such a weapon before me? How dare you presume I will be threatened in my own home? I did not ask for Zeus's master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now ... my helm. Where is it?"**

 **Leo could almost see Percy's brain working as fast as it could, saw the momentary anger flash across his eyes as he realised that he had been played with. That the master bolt had been in the backpack, and he'd gotten the backpack from...**

 **"Lord Hades, wait," he said. "This is all a mistake."**

 **"A mistake?" Hades roared.**

 **The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne. Leo could sympathise with Charon, he hated those evil bats. The one with Mrs. Dodd's face grinned at Percy eagerly and flicked her whip. Leo was slightly alarmed at how eager they were to hurt his friend. He glanced up at Hades unreadable face. He wasn't actually going to hurt Percy. Right?**

 **"There is no mistake," Hades said. "There never was. I know why you have come demigod. I know the real reason you brought that accursed bolt. You came to bargain for them."**

 **Leo felt the shadows that were covering his face disperse, and he came into full view of the whole room, he was willing to bet that the shadows had moved from in front of Aunt Sally too. He saw the horror in Percy's eyes at the chains wrapped around them, as his eyes flickered from one side of the throne to the other.**

 **"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction, and Leo could hear the amusement in his voice. It was a reminder that Hades took pleasure in peoples fear. He wasn't the good guy that he had painted himself as, at least no more than he was the evil guy that Olympus painted him as. "I took them. I knew, Percy Jackson that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let them go. Neither are dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."'**

"Hades, your bark is amazing, but your bite is terrible," Poseidon sighed. At the demigods' puzzled looks, he continued, "Hades is all flare. He's not going to hurt you."

The LT demigods sighed in relief.

 **'Leo saw Percy's hand slowly inch toward his pocket, and remembered that Chaos had mentioned pearls, three, that could get three people out of the underworld. And there were five of them. That wasn't going to end well.'**

"Three for five?" Travis muttered. "And I thought I was bad at math."

' **"Ah, the pearls," Hades said, and Leo felt his blood freeze, not that it could freeze. If fact Leo wasn't sure if he could even get a cold,'**

"You can," Hephaestus said, "but it's very hard, and when you do, it's much worse than the average cold."

"That's reassuring," Leo muttered.

 **'which was kind of useful, though it didn't apply in this situation. Leo hadn't known that Hades knew of the Pearls. "Yes, my brother's little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."**

 **"Only three," Hades said. "What a shame." Leo tried not to snort, a real shame there. You could just tell that Hades was disappointed. It wasn't like his voice was oozing smugness or anything...'**

"Sarcasm," Travis and Conner said.

"You're going to say that every time he uses it, aren't you?" Katie sighed.

"Yes, Katie Kat."

"Sí," Conner smiled.

' **"You do realize each only protects a single person. Who will you take then, little godling? And which two will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."**

 **Leo could see the pain on Percy's face, his loyalty was killing him. He didn't want to leave anyone behind, let alone two people. Though he knew it had to be Percy's decision, he spoke up. "Percy. You are leaving me here."**

 **He saw Percy open his mouth to argue. "No, you will be leaving me here. I have a way out planned bro, I'll be fine. You were set up; Ares gave you that backpack, so get out of here, and kick his ass, ok?"**

 **Annabeth said, "But, Percy ..."**

 **Percy just nodded, and then turned to his mom, ignoring the two behind him telling him to leave them and take his mom. He looked at her with tears in his eyes, and said "I'm sorry mom, I'll find a way back, and I'll save you."**

 **The smug look on Hades's face faded. He said, "Godling ...?"'**

"You've shocked Hades!" Poseidon cheered. "I win, Zeus!"

"Won what?" Hades asked.

"Before the oath, Zeus and I made a bet on who's kid would shock you first, and I won!"

Zeus begrudgingly handed Poseidon some drachmas.

' **"I'll find your helm, Uncle," Percy said. "I'll return it. Remember about Charons pay raise."**

 **"Do not defy me..."**

 **"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls."**

 **"Percy Jackson, you will not..."**

 **"Now guys!" Percy smashed his pearl, at exactly the same time as the others, and for a second Leo held his breath. The giant bubbles of air formed around the three, and took them up through the roof, leaving Hades's throne room in a state of extreme disorder.**

 **And then the place froze, and looked at the Lord of the dead, who was doubled over on his throne, making peculiar noises, and it was only when he looked up, with clear amusement in his eye that Leo realised he was laughing.'**

Zeus handed more drachmas to Poseidon. Apparently, that had been a bet, too.

When Hermes handed some to Apollo, however, everyone looked at him, perplexed.

"I bet he couldn't laugh, and Apollo bet he could," Hermes explained.

"Have all of you bet on me?" Hades demanded.

Every Olympian nodded.

Hades rolled his eyes. "You are all childish."

"September, 1994," Apollo stated with a smirk.

Hades's lips clamped shut.

 **'The chains around Leo and Sally disappeared, and they moved forward, as Hades said "And I thought I'd seen it all... I think I have finally found myself a favourite nephew."'**

"You only have one nephew," Annabeth said, frowning. She turned to Leo. "He does, right?"

"Technically speaking, yes."

"Tech-"

"It's a long story. Everything will be explained in the book."

Annabeth reluctantly gave up.

"All right," Chris, the son of Hephaestus, spoke up, taking the book. "I'll read."

'Chapter 27: In Which Leo Valdez Meets A Future Enemy.'

* * *

 _How was it? I like Apollo and Hades in this... September, 1994 and Winter Solstice, 1879. Did you like that part?_


	29. Future Enemies

_Chapter 29! One more to go!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything in bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN._**

* * *

"In which Leo meets a Future Enemy."

"That can't be good," Beckendorf muttered.

"Trust me, Becky, it'll be happening a lot more in the years to come" Leo said, wrapping an arm around Beckendorf's shoulders.

"First of all, not helping. Second of all, don't call me Becky!"

 **"After Lord Hades had gotten over his amusement, he had sent Sally back to her apartment, with an oath on the Styx that she would tell no one he laughed, as he had an image to keep after all, and then turned to Leo.**

 **"Son of Hephaestus, I have been thinking on my children as of late, and though I wish for them to be removed from the casino, I have nowhere to send them. If I send them to camp, they will be crowded in the Hermes cabin, and that is unbefitting for my children. If I leave them in the mortal world, then they will be hunted. But their mother, my Marie didn't want them growing up in the underworld. I confess myself at somewhat of a loss."**

 **Leo thought for a while. He knew that if they were removed from the casino too soon, Bianca would be older that Percy, which made her the child of the prophecy, and she would either have to die, or fulfil it. During his time at the casino, he had come to think of Bianca as his sister, and he really didn't want her to die. But he also wanted her out of the casino as soon as possible, especially with the bullies there.**

 **If they couldn't go to camp, or the mortal world, or the underworld, then where could they go? "Lord Hades, there is an ancient law of Gods not getting involved with their kids right?"**

 **"Yes, that is indeed one of my problems."**

 **Leo thought back to his childhood, Hera must have broken that law, the amount of times that she almost killed him as a kid. "Does that mean that gods can't get involved with other gods kids? I could've sworn that that sometimes happens."'**

Hesphestus glared at Hera at the reminder of how she'd treated his son.

 **"It is somewhat frowned upon, but not strictly against the law, why?"'**

It was Zues's turn to frown, but he didn't complain. After all, he would've done the same for Thalia.

He _should've_ done the same for her...

' **"Well couldn't you remove them from the casino and ask a god, or goddess you trust to look after them, I mean, that could work right? Perhaps Lady Hestia would be willing to; I can't imagine her turning children away from a place to call home."'**

Hestia smiled. "You are right, Leo."

She turned to Hades.

"Whenever you are ready to remove your children from the casino, I will aid you."

Hades appeared shocked.

"Thank you, sister," he said, smiling.

The gods should've been surprised, but they weren't. Partly because of the book, and partly because Hestia could get even the most miserable of the miserable to smile.

 **"The idea has merit Valdez, and I shall think on it. My eldest sister has always been kind to me. I have no intention of taking them out this year, or even next. I do not wish for my daughter to be the child of the prophecy, Poseidon's son can die for Olympus, but I will not allow my daughter to. I will send you back to the surface, be ready for a call from me at any time. I will require your service if I am to keep this from the ears of Olympus."**

 **Leo bowed, "Yes sir" then felt a strangely cold sensation gripping him, when he next looked up he was standing outside the DOA recording studio, and felt a little sick. So that was shadow travelling. Leo thought her would have preferred walking back through the fields of punishment. He couldn't understand how Nico could stand travelling like that all the time.'**

"He can't," Reyna rasped. "Remember when he started disappearing?"

Leo nodded, somberly.

"Disappearing?" Hades demanded.

"Nico shadow traveled so much that he started becoming a shadow," Leo explained. "He didn't, though. In that sense, he was okay."

"And in other senses?"

Leo didn't respond.

 **'Leo felt someone push past him and in his queasy state, fell over, groaning he got back up, and sent a glare at the familiar face. A snooty voice responded.**

 **"How is it my fault that you were blocking the sidewalk?" then, in Latin, he added "ignorant mortal should stand aside for someone who is clearly better than he. Probably drunk." Leo peered closer; the guy had blond hair, was scrawny, and seemed to be carrying a small dagger. No way!'**

Apollo groaned. "Not him!"

"Him," Leo smirked.

"I liked him better when he was a kid. You know, he used to be nice," Apollo appeared to be depressed for several moments. "I feel kind of bad for him."

"But at the same time, you want to throttle him," Reyna said.

"We know that feeling," said Leo.

Everyone else was simply wondering what the heck they were talking about.

 **'Now Leo had been doing quite well with separating people from their older counterparts, well up until now at least. Seeing the guy who had condemned both Leo's camp and his own to death, even a younger version, made his blood boil. He couldn't resist messing with him a little. Hanging around with Jason, Hazel and Frank, well, he knew a bit of Latin, and he wasn't particularly impressed with what the blond scarecrow had just said.**

 **"You should be careful what you say, legacy, you never know who might be able to understand you. Gods can take any form. Be grateful I do not smite you where you stand." Leo took one look at Octavian's bewildered face, then turned down the road, and strode off. He just made it around the corner before he broke down into hysteric laughter. He hoped that the gods wouldn't smite him for that, but even they would have to admit that Octavian's face was freaking hilarious.'**

Apollo burst into laughter.

"Dude, we wouldn't even think of smiting you for that. He had it coming!" Apollo howled.

 **'Leo swung his backpack of his shoulder, he had been sure that he'd left it in Sally's room, but he figured that Hades had sent it with him. Either that or Chaos had charmed it to return to him. Leo hoped that wasn't the case, as it was slightly wrecked now, so he kinda needed a new one. Having an old, wrecked backpack following him around would be really irritating.'**

"That's a weird mental image," Percy muttered.

Leo cocked his head to the side in a kind of 'thinking/imagining' pose.

"It really is," he agreed.

 **'Leo fished out the notebook that Chaos had given him. Actually that would explain the bag coming back. Both the notebook and wallet had been in the backpack, so instead of them just disappearing from the backpack, and reappearing in his pockets. They decided to bring the backpack with them. He flipped over the notebook and fished a stub of a pencil out the bag, mentally noting that as there was a stinking mess at the bottom of the bag, he should probably clean it out.'**

"Oh, it must be bad. Leo wants to clean it," Grover joked.

Leo playfully swatted his arm.

 **He wrote two words.**

 **-What now-**

 **The reply didn't take long; Leo figured that Chaos had been waiting for him to write.**

 **-I suggest you head to camp Half-blood Valdez, and feel free to 'find' your tool belt in the woods. Don't make bunker nine common knowledge yet though. After summer you have a choice to stay at camp year round, or go back into the social care system.-**

 **-Chaos-**

 **Leo flipped the book shut, and stood up. He had a choice to make, but first he was heading to a pizza takeout, then he could do with a nice violent game of capture the flag. Look out camp Half blood, he thought, Here come Leo Flaming Valdez!'**

As soon as the book was closed, it vanished and another appeared.

This one was slightly larger than the other and the cover displayed a triangle made of fire.

Above it, the title was scrawled:

Fire Triangle

* * *

 _That's that! Bye!_


	30. Sequel!

SEQUEL IS UP!

 _Reading Fire Triangle_


End file.
